Ultrabright Au@Cu14 nanoclusters: 71.3% phosphorescence quantum yield in non-degassed solution at room temperature

The photoluminescence of metal nanoclusters is typically low, and phosphorescence emission is rare due to ultrafast free-electron dynamics and quenching by phonons. Here, we report an electronic engineering approach to achieving very high phosphorescence (quantum yield 71.3%) from a [Au@Cu14(SPhtBu)12(PPh(C2H4CN)2)6]+ nanocluster (abbreviated Au@Cu14) in non-degassed solution at room temperature. The structure of Au@Cu14 has a single-Au-atom kernel, which is encapsulated by a rigid Cu(I) complex cage. This core-shell structure leads to highly efficient singlet-to-triplet intersystem crossing and suppression of nonradiative energy loss. Unlike the phosphorescent organic materials and organometallic complexes—which require de-aerated conditions due to severe quenching by air (i.e., O2)—the phosphorescence from Au@Cu14 is much less sensitive to air, which is important for lighting and biomedical applications.

Near-Infrared-Excitable Organic Ultralong Phosphorescence through Multiphoton Absorption

Organic ultralong room-temperature phosphorescence (OURTP) with a long-lived triplet excited state up to several seconds has triggered widespread research interests, but most OURTP materials are excited by only ultraviolet (UV) or blue light owing to their unique stabilized triplet- and solid-state emission feature. Here, we demonstrate that near-infrared- (NIR-) excitable OURTP molecules can be rationally designed by implanting intra/intermolecular charge transfer (CT) characteristics into H-aggregation to stimulate the efficient nonlinear multiphoton absorption (MPA). The resultant upconverted MPA-OURTP show ultralong lifetimes over 0.42 s and a phosphorescence quantum yield of ~37% under both UV and NIR light irradiation. Empowered by the extraordinary MPA-OURTP, novel applications including two-photon bioimaging, visual laser power detection and excitation, and lifetime multiplexing encryption devices were successfully realized. These discoveries illustrate not only a delicate design map for the construction of NIR-excitable OURTP materials but also insightful guidance for exploring OURTP-based nonlinear optoelectronic properties and applications.

Wide range zero-thermal-quenching ultralong phosphorescence from zero-dimensional metal halide hybrids

Materials with ultralong phosphorescence have wide-ranging application prospects in biological imaging, light-emitting devices, and anti-counterfeiting. Usually, molecular phosphorescence is significantly quenched with increasing temperature, rendering it difficult to achieve high-efficiency and ultralong room temperature phosphorescence. Herein, we spearhead this challenging effort to design thermal-quenching resistant phosphorescent materials based on an effective intermediate energy buffer and energy transfer route. Co-crystallized assembly of zero-dimensional metal halide organic-inorganic hybrids enables ultralong room temperature phosphorescence of (Ph4P)2Cd2Br6 that maintains luminescent stability across a wide temperature range from 100 to 320 K (ΔT = 220 °C) with the room temperature phosphorescence quantum yield of 62.79% and lifetime of 37.85 ms, which exceeds those of other state-of-the-art systems. Therefore, this work not only describes a design for thermal-quenching-resistant luminescent materials with high efficiency, but also demonstrates an effective way to obtain intelligent systems with long-lasting room temperature phosphorescence for optical storage and logic compilation applications.

Thermochemically Stable Liquid-Crystalline Gold(I) Complexes Showing Enhanced Room Temperature Phosphorescence

Gold(I) complexes are some of the most attractive materials for generating aggregation-induced emission (AIE), enabling the realization of novel light-emitting applications such as chemo-sensors, bio-sensors, cell imaging, and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this study, we propose a rational design of luminescent gold complexes to achieve both high thermochemical stability and intense room temperature phosphorescence, which are desirable features in practical luminescent applications. Here, a series of gold(I) complexes with ligands of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) derivatives and/or acetylide were synthesized. Detailed characterization revealed that the incorporation of NHC ligands could increase the molecular thermochemical stability, as the decomposition temperature was increased to ~300 °C. We demonstrate that incorporation of both NHC and acetylide ligands enables us to generate gold(I) complexes exhibiting both high thermochemical stability and high room-temperature phosphorescence quantum yield (>40%) under ambient conditions. Furthermore, we modified the length of alkoxy chains at ligands, and succeeded in synthesizing a liquid crystalline gold(I) complex while maintaining the relatively high thermochemical stability and quantum yield.

Phosphorescent Modulation of Metallophilic Clusters and Recognition of Solvents through a Flexible Host-Guest Assembly: A Theoretical Investigation

MP2 (Second order approximation of Møller–Plesset perturbation theory) and DFT/TD-DFT (Density functional theory/Time-dependent_density_functional_theory) investigations have been performed on metallophilic nanomaterials of host clusters [Au(NHC)2]+⋅⋅⋅[M(CN)2]−⋅⋅⋅[Au(NHC)2]+ (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene, M = Au, Ag) with high phosphorescence. The phosphorescence quantum yield order of clusters in the experiments was evidenced by their order of μS1/ΔES1−T1 values ( μ S 1 : S0 → S1 transition dipole, ∆ E S 1 − T 1 : splitting energy between the lowest-lying singlet S1 and the triplet excited state T1 states). The systematic variation of the guest solvents (S1: CH3OH, S2: CH3CH2OH, S3: H2O) are employed not only to illuminate their effect on the metallophilic interaction and phosphorescence but also as the probes to investigate the recognized capacity of the hosts. The simulations revealed that the metallophilic interactions are mainly electrostatic and the guests can subtly modulate the geometries, especially metallophilic Au⋅⋅⋅M distances of the hosts through mutual hydrogen bond interactions. The phosphorescence spectra of hosts are predicted to be blue-shifted under polar solvent and the excitation from HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) to LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) was found to be responsible for the 3MLCT (triplet metal-to-ligand charge transfer) characters in the hosts and host-guest complexes. The results of investigation can be introduced as the clues for the design of promising blue-emitting phosphorescent and functional materials.

Theoretical study of radiative and nonradiative decay rates for Cu(i) complexes with double heteroleptic ligands

Phosphorescence quantum yield increases significantly because kr increases and knr decreases upon introducing electron-donating groups to N^N ligands.

Morphology-controllable fabrication of organic microcrystals by solid-phase reactions: revealing morphology-sensitive highly efficient phosphorescence and enhanced near-infrared absorption

The vapor-solid reaction induced hexangular microflakes exhibit high phosphorescence quantum yield and enhanced NIR absorption.