Self-healing photoluminescent polymers with photosensitive behavior for information storage and multiple-level...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Photochemistry

Background:

• Photo-responsive luminescent materials are vital for encryption, anti-counterfeiting, and data storage.
• Developing materials with self-healing, rapid response, and dynamic display capabilities remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a novel family of self-healing, photo-stimuli-responsive photoluminescent polymers.
• To explore their potential in advanced applications like dynamic encryption and optical data storage.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized polymers by interlinking terpyridine- and spiropyran-functionalized polymers via N-Ln coordination and hydrogen bonding.
• Investigated photo-stimuli-responsive properties including color shifts and fluorescence modulation.
• Evaluated self-healing ability, processability, and tensile strength.

Main Results:

• Achieved polymers with good processability, high tensile strength, and fast self-healing.
• Demonstrated photo-responsive color shifts (colorless to purple) and tunable fluorescence (green, red, yellow) via spiropyran isomerization and FRET.
• Successfully applied the polymers in dynamic multi-level information encryption.

Conclusions:

• The developed polymers offer a unique combination of self-healing and photo-responsive luminescent properties.
• These materials represent a novel strategy for designing photosensitive luminescent smart materials.
• Potential applications include information storage, anti-counterfeiting, UV-sensing, and light-writing technologies.