Fluorescent self-assembled nanowires of AIE fluorogens

Abstract

The self-assembly of fluorescent molecules is of general interest due to the potential fabrication of nanostructured materials. The fabrication of fluorescent nanowires remains challenging because the inherent aggregation in the self-assembly process quenches the fluorescence of the molecules in many cases. In this work, new aggregation-induced emission-active tetraphenylethene derivatives were used to fabricate fluorescent nanowires facilely by self-assembly processes. Moreover, the fluorescent nanowires can further self-assemble to form macroscopic fluorescent thin films in the solution. The detailed self-assembly processes from nanospheres to nanowires, and further to fluorescent macroscopic thin films were elucidated and evidenced by SEM imaging. A phenomenon of photo-induced emission enhancement was observed, owing to the photo-induced ring-closing oxidative reaction of the tetraphenylethene core.