Long-lived room temperature phosphorescence from amorphous non-traditional intrinsic clusteroluminescence polymers

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices Vol. 1; no. 43; pp. 1642 - 16429
• Main Authors: Chen, Kang, Wang, Yaling, Chu, Bo, Yan, Zishan, Li, Hairu, Zhang, Haoke, Hu, Shengliang, Yang, Yongzhen, Liu, Bin, Zhang, Xing-Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 10.11.2022
• Subjects: Carbonyl groups; Carbonyls; Emission; Excitation; Hydrogen bonding; Hydrolysates; Maleic anhydride; Phosphorescence; Polymers; Polystyrene resins; Room temperature
• ISSN: 2050-7526; 2050-7534
• DOI: 10.1039/d2tc03754h

Non-traditional intrinsic clusteroluminescence (CL) polymers with persistent room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) properties have recently attracted considerable attention owing to the availability of versatile preparation methods and their excellent processability. Herein, a series of poly(styrene- alt -maleic anhydride) (PSMA) hydrolysates with blue fluorescence and green RTP were prepared. The experimental results show that the through-space n-π interaction (TSI-n-π) among intra-/intermolecular carbonyl groups is generated through the induction of hydrogen bonding or ionic bonding, which is the underlying cause of RTP emission. The transition from excitation-dependent emission (EDE) to excitation-independent emission (EIE) with decreasing concentrations indicates that the TSI-n-π of adjacent carbonyls in PSMA-H and hydrolyzed polymaleic anhydride solutions dominates the CL. Theoretical calculations further demonstrate that the phenyl group can induce the aggregation of adjacent carbonyl groups to produce TSI-n-π in the single molecule state, but it does not participate in the carbonyl cluster. This work affords a platform for revealing the nature of CL and TSIs and provides a simple and practical synthetic route for the preparation of RTP materials. The H-bond and ionic bond of the well-defined PSMA hydrolysates induce the TSI-n-π of carbonyl clusters to emit fluorescence and RTP.