Confined-domain crosslink-enhanced emission effect in carbonized polymer dots

• Published in: Light, science & applications science & applications, 2022-03, Vol.11 (1), p.56-56, Article 56
• Main Authors: Tao, Songyuan, Zhou, Changjiang, Kang, Chunyuan, Zhu, Shoujun, Feng, Tanglue, Zhang, Shi-Tong, Ding, Zeyang, Zheng, Chengyu, Xia, Chunlei, Yang, Bai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 119/118; 140/131; 140/146; 639/624/399/1028; 639/624/399/354; Applied and Technical Physics; Atomic; Classical and Continuum Physics; Lasers; Luminescence; Molecular; Optical and Plasma Physics; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Photons; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polymers
• ISSN: 2047-7538; 2095-5545; 2047-7538
• DOI: 10.1038/s41377-022-00745-4

Revealing the photoluminescence (PL) origin and mechanism is a most vital but challenging topic of carbon dots. Herein, confined-domain crosslink-enhanced emission (CEE) effect was first studied by a well-designed model system of carbonized polymer dots (CPDs), serving as an important supplement to CEE in the aspect of spatial interactions. The “addition-condensation polymerization” strategy was adopted to construct CPDs with substituents exerting different degrees of steric hindrance. The effect of confined-domain CEE on the structure and luminescence properties of CPDs have been systematically investigated by combining characterizations and theoretical calculations. Such tunable spatial interactions dominated the coupling strength of the luminophores in one particle, and eventually resulted in the modulated PL properties of CPDs. These findings provide insights into the structural advantages and the PL mechanism of CPDs, which are of general significance to the further development of CPDs with tailored properties. Confined-domain crosslink-enhanced emission effect was first studied to reveal the photoluminescence mechanism of carbonized polymer dots (CPDs). A general strategy was exploited to synthesize CPDs exhibiting tunable photoluminescence properties.