Stimuli-Responsive Afterglow from Luminescent Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Optoelectronics

Background:

• Stimuli-responsive luminescent polymers are crucial for dynamic optical applications.
• Existing systems face limitations in afterglow duration, flexibility, and responsiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an active glow luminescent system integrating inorganic ultralong afterglow phosphors with adaptive liquid crystal elastomer actuators.
• To create materials for encoding, signaling, and tracking in dark environments with enhanced responsiveness.

Main Methods:

• Integration of inorganic ultralong afterglow phosphors with liquid crystal elastomer actuators.
• Fabrication of bicolor, spatially encoded phosphorescent soft actuators.
• Incorporation of fluorescent dyes for light-environment sensitivity.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated ultralong emission (up to 1200 s) in the dark.
• Achieved reprogrammable information encryption and reversible scattering-to-transparent transitions.
• Developed actuators exhibiting shape change and structured emission under various stimuli.

Conclusions:

• The developed system offers active luminescent materials with ultralong afterglow.
• Provides insights for creating adaptive and interactive glowing optical devices.
• Enables multimodal decoding and advanced applications in security and robotics.