Transparency and AIE tunable supramolecular polymer hydrogel acts as TEA-HCl vapor controlled smart optical material
Xiao-Wen Sun1, Zhong-Hui Wang1, Ying-Jie Li1
1Key Laboratory of Eco-Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environmental Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China. linqi2004@126.com.
Abstract:
Stimuli-responsive optical materials attract lots of attention due to their broad applications. Herein, a novel smart stimuli-responsive supramolecular polymer was successfully constructed using a simple tripodal quaternary ammonium-based gelator (TH). The TH self-assembles into a supramolecular polymer hydrogel (TH-G) and shows aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties. Interestingly, the transparency and fluorescence of the TH-G xerogel film (TH-GF) could be reversibly regulated by use of triethylamine (TEA) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) vapor. When alternately fumed with TEA and HCl vapor, the optical transmittance of the TH-GF was changed from 8.9% to 92.7%. Meanwhile, the fluorescence of the TH-G shows an "ON/OFF" switch. The reversible switching of the transparency and the fluorescence of the TH-GF is attributed to the assembly and disassembly of the supramolecular polymer TH-G. Based on these stimuli-response properties, the TH-GF could act as an optical material and shows potential applications as smart windows or fluorescent display material controlled by TEA and HCl vapor.
