Recent Advances in Polymer‐Based Metal‐Free Room‐Temperature Phosphorescent Materials

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 28; no. 51
• Main Authors: Gan, Nan, Shi, Huifang, An, Zhongfu, Huang, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 19-12-2018
• Subjects: flexible electronics; host–guest doping; Materials science; Phosphorescence; polymer materials; Polymers; rigid molecular environment; Room temperature; room‐temperature phosphorescence; Thermal stability
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201802657

Polymer‐based materials have evoked increasing attention in the research field of room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) because they can not only possess fantastic properties such as good flexibility, easy processing, low cost, high thermal stability and so forth, but also serve as rigid matrices to suppress the nonradiative decay process and thus contribute to phosphorescence emission at room temperature. This Review outlines the development of RTP in organic polymer‐based materials from the perspective of nondoped and doped polymer systems, containing the detailed photophysical properties, luminescent mechanisms and their applications. The conclusion and outlook are presented to point out the advances and challenges for further study of polymer‐based metal‐free RTP materials.
Here, the perspective of material categories in polymer‐based metal‐free room‐temperature phosphorescence during the past decades is presented. Detailed photophysical properties, luminescent mechanisms, and the related applications in hypoxia imaging, sensing, encryption ink, and lifetime‐encoding are summarized. The current challenges are also analyzed and highlighted.