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This work reports the successful preparation of a new type of crystalline luminescent organic nanodot (3.5 nm) by kinetically trapped self-assembly, which is then used as a simplified π-packing model to simulate the structure of CDs. The precise structure and J-aggregation-induced photoluminescence (PL) of the nanodots are revealed by investigating the structural relationship between the nanodots and the corresponding single crystals and their properties. Compared with the single crystals, crystalline organic nanodots show longer PL lifetime, higher PL quantum yield, and narrower PL peak, indicating that they are potential organic quantum nanodots. In addition, the efficient π-stacking environment in the corresponding single crystals can promote π-aggregation-induced PL anisotropy. This work indicates crystalline organic nanodots with precise structures to be potentially useful for understanding the structures of CDs and to be attractive potential luminescent materials.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently emerged as appealing platforms to construct microlasers owing to their compelling characters combining the excellent stability of inorganic materials and processable characters of organic materials. However, MOF microstructures developed thus far are generally composed of multiple edge boundaries due to their crystalline nature, which consequently raises significant scattering losses that are detrimental to lasing performance. In this work, we propose a strategy to overcome the above drawback by designing spherically shaped MOFs microcavities. Such spherical MOF microstructures are constructed by amorphizing MOFs with a topological distortion network through introducing flexible building blocks into the growth environment. With an ultra-smooth surface and excellent circular boundaries, the acquired spherical microcavities possess a Q factor as high as ≈104 and can provide sufficient feedback for high-quality single-mode lasing oscillations. We hope that these results will pave an avenue for the construction of new types of flexible MOF-based photonic components.

Efficient radiative recombination is essential for perovskite luminescence, but the intrinsic radiative recombination rate as a basic material property is challenging to tailor. Here we report an interfacial chemistry strategy to dramatically increase the radiative recombination rate of perovskites. By coating aluminum oxide on the lead halide perovskite, lead-oxygen bonds are formed at the perovskite-oxide interface, producing the perovskite surface states with a large exciton binding energy and a high localized density of electronic state. The oxide-bonded perovskite exhibits a ≈500 fold enhanced photoluminescence with a ≈10 fold reduced lifetime, indicating an unprecedented ≈5000 fold increase in the radiative recombination rate. The enormously enhanced radiative recombination promises to significantly promote the perovskite optoelectronic performance.

Conventional square-planar platinum complexes typically form one-dimensional assemblies as a result of unidirectional metallophilic and/or π⋅⋅⋅π intermolecular interactions. Organoplatinum(II) complexes with a cruciform shape are presented herein to construct two-dimensional (2D) microcrystals with full-color and white phosphorescence. These 2D crystals show unique monocomponent π⋅⋅⋅π stacking, from either the cyclometalating or noncyclometalating ligand, and the bicomponent alternate π⋅⋅⋅π stacking from both ligands along different facet directions. Anisotropic tri-directional waveguiding is further implemented on a single hexagonal microcrystal. These results demonstrate the great capability of the organoplatinum(II) cruciform as a general platform to fabricate 2D phosphorescent micro-/nanocrystals for advanced photonic applications.

Thermally activated delayed-fluorescent (TADF) materials are anticipated to overcome triplet-related losses towards electrically driven organic lasers. Thus far, contributions from triplets to lasing have not yet been experimentally demonstrated owing to the limited knowledge about the excited-state processes. Herein, we experimentally achieve reverse intersystem crossing (RISC)-boosted lasing in organic microspheres with uniformly dispersed TADF emitters. In these materials, triplets are continuously converted to radiative singlets through RISC, giving rise to reduced losses in stimulated emission. The involvement of regenerated singlets in population inversion results in a thermally activated lasing; that is, the lasing intensity increases with increasing temperature, accompanied by accelerated depletion of the excited-state population. Benefiting from the suppression of triplet accumulations by RISC processes, a high-repetition-rate microlaser was achieved.

Micro/nanoscale photonic barcodes based on multicolor luminescent segmented heterojunctions hold potential for applications in information security. However, such multicolor heterojunctions reported thus far are exclusively based on static luminescent signals, thus restricting their application in advanced confidential information protection. Reported here is a strategy to design responsive photonic barcodes with heterobimetallic (Tb3+ /Eu3+ ) metal-organic framework multicolor heterostructures. The spatial colors could be precisely controlled by thermally manipulating the energy-transfer process between the two lanthanides, thus achieving responsive covert photonic barcodes. Also demonstrated is that spatially resolved responsive barcodes with multi-responsive features could be created in a single heterostructure. These findings offer unique opportunities to purposely design highly integrated responsive microstructures and smart devices toward advanced anti-counterfeiting applications.

Miniaturized lasers with high spectral purity and wide wavelength tunability are crucial for various photonic applications. Here we propose a strategy to realize broadband-tunable single-mode lasing based on a photoisomerization-activated intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) process in coupled polymer microdisk cavities. The photoisomerizable molecules doped in the polymer microdisks can be quantitatively transformed into a kind of laser dye with strong ICT character by photoexcitation. The gain region was tailored over a wide range through the self-modulation of the optically activated ICT isomers. Meanwhile, the resonant modes shifted with the photoisomerization because of a change in the effective refractive index of the polymer microdisk cavity. Based on the synergetic modulation of the optical gain and microcavity, we realized the broadband tuning of the single-mode laser. These results offer a promising route to fabricate broadband-tunable microlasers towards practical photonic integrations.

A universal approach is demonstrated for realizing dual-wavelength lasing in organic core-shell structured microlaser arrays, which show great promise in serving as all-color laser display panels. By alternately printing hydrophilic and hydrophobic laser dye solutions on preprocessed substrates, precisely patterned core-shell heterostructure arrays were obtained. The spatially separated core and shell independently function as optical resonators to support dual-wavelength tunable lasing in each heterostructure. Such a general method enables to flexibly control the lasing wavelength of the core-shell microlasers across a wide spectral range by systematically designing the gain media. Using as-prepared microlaser arrays as display panels, full-color laser displays were achieved with a color gamut much larger than that of standard RGB space. These results provide insights for design concepts and device construction for novel optoelectronic applications.

2D anisotropic transport of photons/electrons is crucial for constructing ultracompact on-chip circuits. To date, the photons in organic 2D crystals usually exhibit the isotropic propagation, and the anisotropic behaviors have not yet been fully demonstrated. Now, an orientation-controlled photon-dipole interaction strategy was proposed to rationally realize the anisotropic and isotropic 2D photon transport in two co-crystal polymorph microplates. The monoclinic microplate adopts a nearly horizontal transition dipole moment (TDM) orientation in 2D plane, exhibiting anisotropic photon-dipole interactions and thus distinct re-absorption waveguide losses for different 2D directions. By contrast, the triclinic plate with a vertical TDM orientation, shows 2D isotropic photon-dipole interactions and thus the same re-absorption losses along different directions. Based on this anisotropy, a directional signal outcoupler was designed for the directional transmission of the real signals.

Circularly polarized light (CPL) detection has emerged as a key technology for various optoelectronics. Chiral hybrid perovskites (CHPs) that combine CPL‐sensitive absorption induced by chiral organic ligands and superior photoelectric properties of perovskites are promising candidates for direct CPL detection. To date, most of the CHP detectors are made up of polycrystalline thin‐film, which results in a rather limited discrimination of CPL due to the existence of redundant impurities and intrinsic defect states originating from rapid crystallization process. Here, it is developed a direct CPL detector with high photocurrent and polarization selectivity based on low‐defect CHP single‐crystal nanowire arrays. Large‐scale CHP nanowires are obtained through a micropillar template‐assisted capillary‐bridge rise approach. Thanks to the high crystallinity and ordered crystallographic alignment of these arrays, a CPL photodetector with high light on/off ratio of 1.8 × 104, excellent responsivity of 1.4 A W−1, and an outstanding anisotropy factor of 0.24 for photocurrent has been achieved. These results would provide useful enlightenment for direct CPL detection in high‐performance chiral optoelectronics., An efficient circularly polarized light (CPL) detector is demonstrated with large‐scale chiral hybrid perovskite (CHP) nanowire arrays. Based on the high photocurrent and polarization selectivity of CHP single‐crystals, high‐performance CPL detectors with high light on/off ratio and excellent polarization distinguishability through arranging such single‐crystalline CHP nanowires into low‐defect arrays are achieved.

Organic composite materials have been attracting extensive research interest for light‐emitting applications. A wide variety of luminescent organic composite materials have been synthesized, which are of great significance for both the investigation of basic photophysics and the realization of high‐performance photonic devices. Function‐oriented syntheses of luminescent organic composite materials rely on the understanding and manipulating of molecular excited states. In this review, we focus on the discussion about the structure design and dynamics modulation of the electronic excited states in the organic composite materials. The excited‐state structures and dynamics involve singlet/triplet levels, vibronic transition, charge transfer, and energy transfer, and so on, while the light‐emitting behaviors include fluorescence, phosphorescence, persistent luminescence, electroluminescence, and lasing. We aim to give insight into the relationship between light‐emitting properties and excited states of organic composite materials, which is beneficial for reaching higher tiers of design and applications of luminescent organic composite materials.

Highly sensitive photodetectors play significant roles in modern optoelectronic integrated circuits. Constructing p-n junctions has been proven to be a particularly powerful approach to realizing sensitive photodetection due to their efficient carrier separation. Recently, p-n-junction photodetectors based on organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites, which combine favorable optoelectronic performance with facile processability, hold great potential in practical applications. So far, these devices have generally been made of polycrystalline films, which exhibit poor carrier-transport efficiency, impeding the further improvement of their photoresponsivities. Here, a type of ultrasensitive photodetector based on single-crystalline perovskite p-n-junction nanowire arrays is demonstrated. The single-crystalline perovskite p-n-junction nanowire arrays not only possess high crystallinity that enables efficient carrier transport but also form a built-in electric field facilitating effective carrier separation. As a result, the devices show excellent photosensitivity over a wide spectral range from 405 to 635 nm with an outstanding responsivity of 2.65 × 10

Micro/nanoscale multicolor barcodes with unique identifiability and a small footprint play significant roles in applications such as multiplexed labeling and tracking systems. Now, a strategy is reported to design multicolor photonic barcodes based on 1D Ln-MOF multiblock heterostructures, where the domain-controlled emissive colors and different block lengths constitute the fingerprint of a corresponding heterostructure. The excellent heteroepitaxial growth characteristics of MOFs enable the effective modulation of the coding structures, thereby remarkably increasing the encoding capacity. The as-prepared multicolor barcodes enable an efficient authentication and exhibit great potential in fulfilling the functions of anti-counterfeiting, information security, and so on. The results will pave an avenue to novel hybrid MOFs for optical data recording and security labels.

Lanthanide metal–organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs) have received much attention owing to their structural tunability and widely photofunctional applications. However, successful examples of Ln-MOFs with well-defined photonic performances at micro-/nanometer size are still quite limited. Herein, self-assemblies of 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (BTC) and lanthanide ions afford isostructural crystalline Ln-MOFs. Tb-BTC, Eu@Tb-BTC, and Eu-BTC have 1D microrod morphologies, high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields, and different emission colors (green, orange, and red). Spatially PL resolved spectra confirm that Ln-MOF microrods exhibit an optical waveguide effect with low waveguide loss coefficient (0.012≈0.033 dB μm−1) during propagation. Furthermore, these microrods feature both linear and chiral polarized photoemission with high anisotropy.

The rational design of multifunctional materials with both emissive and semiconducting properties remains a challenge. A multifunctional cruciform donor–acceptor (D–A) molecule, 2,2′-(((4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl)bis(thiophene-5,2-diyl))bis(methanylylidene))dimalononitrile (BDTTM), which contains a benzodithiophene as the central core, has been synthesized and, based on the output and transfer characteristics of the corresponding FETs, thin films of BDTTM exhibited ambipolar semiconducting behavior. Notably, FETs with thin films of BDTTM showed a photoresponse in both p- and n-channels, and drain-source-current enhancement under white-light irradiation could be detected, even at a low light intensity of 0.1 mW cm−2. Furthermore, BDTTM exhibited red-light emission both in solution and as a crystalline solid. A microplate of BDTTM with red-light emission displayed typical optical waveguiding behavior.

Solid state emissive materials with high quantum yields and tunable emissions are desirable for various applications. A new TPE derivative (1) with two carbazole moieties and two cyano groups is reported, which shows typical aggregation induced emission behavior. Four crystals 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d are obtained after crystallization from N,N-dimethylformamid (DMF), trichloromethane (CHCl3 ), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and dichloromethane (CH2 Cl2 ), respectively. Crystal structural analyses reveal that (i) molecules of 1 co-crystallize with DMF, CHCl3 , THF, and CH2 Cl2 in 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d, respectively, and (ii) conformations of 1 are different within 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d, and compound 1 within crystal 1a adopts the most twisting conformation. Crystalline solids 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d exhibit high emission quantum yields up to 0.65, but their emission colors are varied from blue to green. In comparison, the amorphous solid of 1 is yellow-emissive with emission maximum at 542 nm. Moreover, the blue- or green-emissive crystalline solids and the yellow-emissive amorphous solid can be inter-converted by the grinding of crystalline solids and exposure of the amorphous solid to vapors of appropriate solvents. It is also demonstrated that microrods of 1a, 1b, and 1d show typical optical waveguiding behavior.

We present a nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (N-PAH), namely 12-methoxy-9-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5,8-diphenyl-4-(pyridin-4-yl) pyreno[1,10,9-h,i,j]-isoquinoline (c-TPE-ON), which exhibits high quantum-yield emission both in solution (blue) and in the solid state (yellow). This molecule was unexpectedly obtained by a three-fold, highly regioselective photocyclodehydrogenation of a tetraphenylethylene-derived AIEgen. Based on manifold approaches involving UV/Vis, photoluminescence, and NMR spectroscopy as well as HRMS, we propose a reasonable mechanism for the formation of the disk-like N-PAH that is supported by density functional theory calculations. In contrast to most PAHs that are commonly used, our system does not suffer from entire fluorescence quenching in the solid state due to the peripheral aromatic rings preventing p-p stacking interactions, as evidenced by single-crystal X-ray analysis. Moreover, its rod-like microcrystals exhibit excellent optical waveguide properties. Hence, c-TPE-ON comprises a N-PAH with unprecedented luminescent properties and as such is a promising candidate for fabricating organic optoelectronic devices. Our design and synthetic strategy might lead to a more general approach to the preparation of solution-and solid-state luminescent PAHs.

Inorganic perovskite single crystals have emerged as promising vapor-phase processable structures for optoelectronic devices. However, because of material lattice mismatch and uncontrolled nucleation, vapor-phase methods have been restricted to random distribution of single crystals that are difficult to perform for integrated device arrays. Herein, an effective strategy to control the vapor-phase growth of high-quality cesium lead bromide perovskite (CsPbBr3 ) microplate arrays with uniform morphology as well as controlled location and size is reported. By introducing perovskite seeds on substrates, intractable lattice mismatches and random nucleation barriers are surpassed, and the epitaxial growth of perovskite crystals is accurately controlled. It is further demonstrated that CsPbBr3 microplate arrays can be monolithically integrated on substrates for the fabrication of high-performance lasers and photodetectors. This strategy provides a facile approach to fabricate high-quality CsPbBr3 microplates with controllable size and location, which offers new opportunities for the scalable production of integrated optoelectronic devices.

Coherent light signals generated at the nanoscale are crucial to the realization of photonic integrated circuits. Self-assembled nanowires from organic dyes can provide both a gain medium and an effective resonant cavity, which have been utilized for fulfilling miniaturized lasers. Excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), a classical molecular photoisomerization process, can be used to build a typical four-level system, which is more favorable for population inversion. Low-power driven lasing in proton-transfer molecular nanowires with an optimized ESIPT energy-level process has been achieved. With high gain and low loss from the ESIPT, the wires can be applied as effective FP-type resonators, which generated single-mode lasing with a very low threshold. The lasing wavelength can be reversibly switched based on a conformation conversion of the excited keto form in the ESIPT process.

In this work, two rigid, multiple tetraphenylethene (TPE)-substituted, π-conjugated, snowflake-shaped luminophores BT and BPT were facilely synthesized by using a 6-fold Suzuki coupling reaction. These molecules are constructed based on the nonplanar structure of propeller-shaped hexaphenylbenzene (HPB) or benzene as core groups and TPE as end groups. As a result, they reserve the intrinsic aggregation-induced emission (AIE) property of the TPE moiety. Meanwhile, both fluorescence quantum yield and piezochromic behavior in the solid state can be tuned or switched by inserting the phenyl bridges through changing the twisting conformation. The more extended structure BPT showed a much stronger AIE effect and higher ΦF,f in the solid state in comparison with that of BT. Furthermore, an excellent optical waveguide application of these molecules was achieved. However, the revisable piezofluorochromic behavior has only appeared when BT was ground using a pestle and treated with solvent.

In this paper seven salts of pyridinium-substituted tetraphenylethylene with different anions are reported. They show typical aggregation-induced emission. Crystal structures of three of the salts with (CF(3)SO(2))(2) N(-), CF(3) SO(3)(-), and SbF(6)(-) as the respective counter anions, are determined. The emission behavior of their amorphous and crystalline solids is investigated. Both amorphous and crystalline solids, except for the one with I(-), are highly emissive. Certain amorphous solids are red-emissive with almost the same quantum yields and fluorescence life-times. However, some crystalline solids are found to show different emission colors varying from green to yellow. Thus, their emission colors can be tuned by the counter anions. Furthermore, certain crystalline solids are highly emissive compared to the respective amorphous solids. Such solid-state emission behavior of these pyridinium-substituted tetraphenylethylene salts is interpreted on the basis of their crystal structures. In addition, optical waveguiding behavior of fabricated microrods is presented.

New arylacetylene-substitut- ed naphthalene diimides (NDIs) 1-6, with both light-emitting and semicon- ducting functions, are reported. Among them, the crystal structure of 1 was de- termined. On the basis of their reduc- tion potentials and thin-film absorption spectra, the HOMO/LUMO energies of these modified NDIs were estimat- ed. The results reveal that their HOMO/LUMO energies are slightly affected by the flanking aryl groups. The emission colors of these NDIs vary from green to red, and interestingly, they show aggregation-induced emis- sion enhancement behavior with fluo- rescence quantum yields reaching 9.86 % in the solid state. Microrods of 1, 3, and 5 show typical optical wave- guiding behavior with relatively low optical-loss coefficients. Organic field- effect transistors with thin films of these NDIs were fabricated with con- ventional techniques. The results indi- cate that thin films of 2, 4, and 6, with long and branched alkyl chains, show air-stable n-type semiconducting prop- erties with electron mobilities of up to 0.035 cm 2 V � 1 s � 1 after thermal anneal- ing, whereas 1, 3, and 5, with short alkyl chains, behave as n-type semicon- ductors under a nitrogen atmosphere with electron mobilities of up to 0.075 cm 2 V � 1 s � 1 after thermal anneal- ing.

Herein, we report the synthesis of new tetraphenylethylene derivatives 1-5 that feature electron-donating (methoxy) and -accepting (dicyanomethane) groups as AIE-active molecules with tunable emission colors. The crystal structures of compounds 3 and 4 are described and the intermolecular interactions within their crystals agree with the observation that they exhibit strong solid-state emission. Compounds 1-4 exhibit typical AIE behavior and their emission maxima are red-shifted in the order: 1

Organic color-graded optical waveguides permit low-power photonic analogies of diode/transistors based on the energy-transferred conversion of exciton species. The donor-acceptor junction can asymmetrically output blue/red colors due to the mono-directional energy transfer during light propagation. The switching function of transistors is achieved with an additional gate input by altering the ground state density of acceptors. These organic heterogeneous waveguides are further cascaded together to steer the guided light flows for potential applications in photonic integrations.

A novel approach to manipulating multiple optical signals at subwavelength scale is proposed in dendritic organic/metal nanowire heterostructures. The heterostructures are prepared by embedding Ag nanowires in fac-tris(2-phenylpyridine) iridium microwires during the self-assembly in liquid phase. Optical signals inputted from the organic waveguide can be selectively transferred to the predetermined subwavelength output ports based on the angular dependence of the photon-plasmon coupling.