Unveiling Clusterization-Triggered Emission Mechanism Through a Small-Molecule Clusteroluminogen with Color Tunable...

Area of Science:

• Photophysics
• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Clusterization-triggered emission (CTE) involves luminescence from self-assembled clusteroluminogens (CLgens).
• Single-component white-light (SCWL) emission is desirable for devices but rare in CLgens, especially from small, nonconjugated molecules.
• Understanding CTE mechanisms in small molecules is crucial for developing new emitters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a novel organic salt, TET.Br4, for clusterization-triggered emission (CTE).
• To investigate the structure-property relationships and mechanism of CTE in small-molecule, nonconjugated luminogens.
• To explore the potential of TET.Br4 for single-component white-light (SCWL) emission.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of the organic salt TET.Br4.
• Photophysical characterization including optical absorption and photoluminescence measurements.
• Density functional theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate the mechanism.

Main Results:

• TET.Br4 exhibits color-tunable CTE and near-white-light emission.
• The study highlights the roles of through-space conjugation, energy/charge transfer, and halogen bonding in the CTE mechanism.
• Successful fabrication of SCWL emitters from a small-molecule, nonconjugated luminogen.

Conclusions:

• The novel organic salt TET.Br4 demonstrates efficient CTE and tunable white-light emission.
• The findings provide insights into the CTE mechanism in small molecules, involving synergistic effects.
• This work contributes to the development of single-component white-light emitters based on nonconjugated luminogens.