Tuning White-Light Emission of POSS-Based Fluorescent Hybrid Porous Polymers via Physical Blending for White LEDs

The development of a straightforward strategy for preparing organic fluorescent materials, fine-tuning white-light emission, and subsequently constructing white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is of great significance. Herein, we report on the modulation of white-light emission and the fabrication of white LEDs using polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based fluorescent hybrid porous polymers (HPPs) through simple physical blending. Two HPPs, namely HPP-1 and HPP-2, which emit blue and red light, respectively, were synthesized via the efficient Heck reactions of octavinylsilsesquioxane with 4,4'-dibromobiphenyl and 1,3,6,8-tetrabromopyrene. By physically doping of HPP-1 and HPP-2 in variable ratios in solvent suspensions, it was discovered that white-light emission is significantly influenced by the concentrations of the materials and the excitation wavelength. Similar findings were also observed in the solid-state physical doping. An ideal white light emission with a CIE coordinate of (0.33, 0.33) can be achieved when excited at 380 nm with a mass ratio of HPP-1 to HPP-2 of 1:2. Finally, the two HPPs were dispersed in polysiloxane matrices, and a white LED with a CIE coordinate of (0.42, 0.36) was obtained. The LED exhibited a color rendering index of up to 90 and a correlated color temperature of 2858 K, realizing warm white light emission. This simple and convenient white-light regulation strategy holds great promise for application in the development of novel white LEDs based on organic fluorescent porous materials.