Aggregation-induced room temperature phosphorescent carbonized polymer dots with wide-range tunable lifetimes for optical multiplexing

Abstract

Optical multiplexing based on luminescent materials with tunable lifetimes holds potential applications in information storage and security. However, most of these materials reported so far are still limited to the microsecond level, which restrains their further applications. Herein, four kinds of green room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) carbonized polymer dots (CPDs) with long lifetimes ranging from 730 ms to 2.26 s were hydrothermally prepared by simply adjusting the volume ratio of the precursors. The wide-range tunable RTP lifetime is finely tailored by different CPD aggregated extents of stable network structure with hydrogen-bonded interactions between CPDs and the surrounding cross-linked polymers. Importantly, we also demonstrate the potential for aqueous dispersion of the CPDs as printable security inks for naked-eye visible multiplexing, realizing advanced encryption. This study provides a design strategy for the preparation of wide-range tunable RTP materials and reveals the great potential of CPDs in optical multiplexing.