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Achieving white-light emission in a single-component polymer with halogen-assisted interaction

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Abstract

White-light emitting (WLE) polymers have attracted continuous attention for their promising applications in solid-state lighting, flexible display and related fields. However, achieving dual-emission and pure white-light emission in a single-component polymer is still challenging. In this study, a brominated single-component polymer BrOD-TFB was designed and synthesized, which shows dual-emission and white light emission properties in solution and room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) in thin films. The dual-emission properties can be tuned by concentration, solvent polarity, and excitation energy. Spectral analyses and theoretical calculations reveal that the origin of the high-energy emission band (HEB) is intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) along the polymer chain, whilst the low-energy emission band (LEB) originates from the excited-state related to the intra-chain and inter-chain C-Br⋯π interactions as demonstrated by the single-crystal structure of the model compound. Appropriate control of the formation and the destruction of the halogen-assisted interactions can initiate white-light emission in the single-component polymer. More interestingly, by dispersing BrOD-TFB (0.1 wt%) in a non-emissive, colorless and transparent polymer, the characteristics of this white-light emission can be fully demonstrated while exhibiting unexpected RTP properties, with photoluminescence quantum efficiency (ΦPL) of up to 23% and CIE coordinates of (0.32, 0.32).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51873239, 51373204, U20A20255), the Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province (2015B0909-15003, 2019B040401002, 2020B010182001), National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB643605), the Leading Scientific, Technical and Innovation Talents of Guangdong Special Support Program (2016TX03C295) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2114050001078).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite & Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory for High-Performance Polymer Composites of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Centre for High-performance Organic and Polymer Photoelectric Functional Films, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Zhuxin Zhou, Zhu Mao, Zhan Yang, Tingting Yang, Longji Zhu, Yubo Long, Zhenguo Chi, Siwei Liu, Xudong Chen, Jiarui Xu & Yi Zhang

  2. Lomox Limited, Bank House, Market Square, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 1ET, UK

    Matthew P. Aldred

  3. Shenzhen Yanyi New Materials Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, 518110, China

    Zhuxin Zhou

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  1. Zhuxin Zhou
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  2. Zhu Mao
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  3. Zhan Yang
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Correspondence to Yi Zhang.

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Zhou, Z., Mao, Z., Yang, Z. et al. Achieving white-light emission in a single-component polymer with halogen-assisted interaction. Sci. China Chem. 64, 467–477 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-020-9900-1

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