Bioinspired chemoenzymatically controlled artificial light harvesting nanoaggregates with multicolour transient emissions for time-gated information encryption

Abstract

Transient light phenomena in biological systems are predominantly orchestrated by chemical reaction networks, with enzymes serving as key modulators. Inspired by these natural processes, we have developed enzyme-regulated, broad-spectrum artificial light-harvesting nanoaggregates capable of pH-clock-driven transient emissions. pH-adaptable AIEgen-based nanoaggregates have been implemented in this study that can sequester a suitable FRET acceptor in their hydrophobic domain, leading to multi-colour emissions. These nanoaggregates can be temporally regulated with a chemoenzymatic pH clock, which generates time-programmed emissive colours with different FRET donor-acceptor combinations. The resulting multicoloured transient emissions closely resemble the fleeting luminescence observed in fireflies. Such time-responsive nanoaggregates and their dynamic emissive behaviour offer promising utility for information encryption with inherent anti-counterfeiting capabilities. As data encryption commonly relies on cryptic coding, we demonstrate time-encoded information encryption using ASCII, Morse, and 4-bit codes derived from these emissive systems. Herein, time becomes a crucial parameter that enhances the security of code-based data storage. The synergy of simple molecular design, a complex multicomponent environment, adaptive functionality, and synchronised temporal modulation collectively summarises the essential characteristics of biological light emission.