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Intrinsic emission and tunable phosphorescence of perfluorosulfonate ionomers with evolved ionic clusters

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Abstract

Intrinsic emission from unorthodox luminogens without traditional conjugated building blocks is drawing increasing attention. However, the emission mechanism is still controversial. Herein, we demonstrate the intriguing emission from perfluorosulfonate ionomers (PFSIs), which can be explained by the clustering triggered emission (CTE) mechanism. Despite being free of any conventional chromophores, PFSIs exhibit bright emission and multi-color phosphorescence (77 K) in concentrated solutions, powders and membranes with obvious aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. Clustered sulfonic acids are responsible for the light emission, and their connection and evolution are deeply explored via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and small angel X-ray scattering (SAXS), in which the electron overlap determined by the clustered status results in the extended conjugation and simultaneously rigidified conformations. These results demonstrate that it is feasible to use fluorescence analysis to explore the ionic cluster structure and evolution of PFSI, and it can be applied in the pure organic luminescent field as well.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Petrochina Petrochemical Research Institute (LH-17-02-07-05) and Open Foundation from State Key Laboratory of Fluorinated Functional Membrane Material.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Key Lab of Electrical Insulation and Thermal Aging, Shanghai Electrochemical Energy Devices Research Center, Center of Hydrogen Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Qing Zhou, Tianjia Yang, Zihao Zhong & Yongming Zhang

  2. School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai, 201418, China

    Supeng Pei

  3. Petrochina Petrochemical Research Institute, Beijing, 102299, China

    Jia Cui & Changlu Hu

  4. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Zhenhua Sun & Yongyang Gong

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  1. Qing Zhou
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  2. Jia Cui
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  3. Tianjia Yang
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  4. Changlu Hu
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  5. Zihao Zhong
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  7. Yongyang Gong
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  8. Supeng Pei
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  9. Yongming Zhang
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Correspondence to Supeng Pei or Yongming Zhang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The supporting information is available online at http://chem.scichina.com and http://link.springer.com/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Zhou, Q., Cui, J., Yang, T. et al. Intrinsic emission and tunable phosphorescence of perfluorosulfonate ionomers with evolved ionic clusters. Sci. China Chem. 63, 833–840 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9704-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9704-y

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