Excitation Dependent Nonconventional Afterglow for 6D Dynamic Encryptions

Nonconventional luminescent materials without traditional aromatic chromophores have attracted significant research interest. However, achieving persistent luminescence under visible-light excitation in those systems is inherently difficult. Herein, we report a simple and general strategy to develop intrinsic excitation-dependent afterglow in aliphatic polyesters via hybridization with metaboric acid (MBA), in which the afterglow peak shifts from 431 to 540 nm upon tuning the excitation source from 254 to 405 nm, owing to the formation of clusters with varied sizes during the fabrication. Moreover, the afterglow emission color could be tuned from deep blue to red via triplet-to-singlet Förster resonance energy transfer (TS-FRET) by doping with a commercial dye. These inorganic-polymer composites could be fabricated into 3D artwares and multi-mode anti-counterfeiting labels. Leveraging the multicolor afterglow and spatial manipulation, a 6D dynamic encryption platform using a luminescent magic cube was demonstrated. This work not only provided a novel composite-induced strategy for creating intrinsic excitation-dependent afterglow from aliphatic polyesters but also successfully demonstrated their pioneering application in advanced information encryption.