Efficient luminescent materials can find application in electronics, optics, biological sciences. Traditional luminophores suffer from the quenching effect upon aggregation formation, which have been known as aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect. Considering the fact that luminophores are commonly used as solid films in their practical applications, strong solid-state emitters are urgently needed. In 2001, we found that some propeller-like molecules exhibit luminescence behavior that is exactly opposite to the ACQ luminophores: aggregate formation turned on up their fluorescence, changing them from weak fluorogens into strong emitters. We termed this novel phenomenon as aggregation-induced emission (AIE).<br/>Through detailed mechanistic study of the photophysical process, restriction of intramolecular motion was identified as a main cause for the AIE effect. Since then, we have developed a number of AIE-active functional nonconventional luminogens with emission colors covering the entire visible spectral region. We have also explored their high-tech applications as, for example, fluorescent chemical sensors, biological probes, immunoassay markers, in vivo imaging agents, polarized light emitters, stimuli-responsive nanomaterials, and active layers in the fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes.

Nonconventional luminogens with AIE characteristics

254th National Meeting (2017)

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