Color-Tunable Binary Copolymers Manipulated by Intramolecular Aggregation and Hydrogen Bonding

Abstract

Construction of color-tunable luminescent polymeric materials with enhanced emission intensity and room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) performance regulated by a single chromophore component is highly desirable in the scope of photoluminescent materials. Herein, a set of binary copolymers were facilely synthesized using free radical polymerization by selecting different types of polymer matrix and N-substituted naphthalimides (NPA) as chromophores. Surprisingly, the fluorescence emission of copolymers could be remarkably enhanced, because of the intramolecular aggregation of NPA manipulated by a single polymer chain in both solution and solid state. Moreover, RTP signals of binary copolymers were all clearly observed in the air without any processing procedure, because of the embedding of phosphors into hydrogen bonding networks after copolymerization with vinyl-based acrylamide monomers. Taking advantages of the synergistic effect of copolymerization-induced aggregation and copolymerization-induced rigidification to promote optical performance, UV stimulus-responsive luminescent polymer films with processability, flexibility, and adjustable emission wavelength were simply prepared using a drop-casting method in large scale, the setting of which is the basis for application in the fields of organic optoelectronics, information security, and bioimaging/sensing.