Integrated full-color emission and near-infrared phosphorescence enabled by tunable self-assembly of a single...

Self-assembled intelligent luminescent materials have attracted considerable attention in fields such as information encryption and biological optics. Nevertheless, achieving a molecular luminescent system featuring tunable color and lifetime has been a long-standing challenge. Herein, we report an assembly-induced full-color photoluminescent system that exhibits near-infrared room-temperature phosphorescence using a single organic chromophore. As the system undergoes a transition from a monomer state to an aggregation state, the concomitant change in its self-assembly mode drives the fluorescence color from blue to orange including white with red/near-infrared room-temperature phosphorescence. The involvement of cucurbit[8]uril markedly enhances the phosphorescence and improves the tunability of the fluorescence emission across a broad spectrum. This integrated system enables multi-channel cellular imaging in aqueous solution and exhibits excellent adaptability in flexible polyvinyl alcohol films for advanced time-resolved multi-level encryption. This work presents a full-color multifunctional intelligent luminescent system with promising potential for multifunctional additive manufacturing.