Fluorescence of pyrene-doped polystyrene films from room temperature down to 4 K for wavelength-shifting applications

In liquid argon-based particle detectors, slow wavelength shifters (WLSs) could be used alongside the common, nanosecond scale, WLS tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) for background mitigation purposes. At room temperature, pyrene has a moderate fluorescence light yield (LY) and a time constant of the order of hundreds of nanoseconds. In this work, four pyrene-doped polystyrene films with various purities and concentrations were characterized in terms of LY and decay time constants in a range of temperature between 4 K and 300 K under ultraviolet excitation. These films were found to have a LY between 35 and 50% of that of evaporated TPB. All light yields increase when cooling down, while the decays slow down. At room temperature, we observed that pyrene purity is strongly correlated with emission lifetime: highest obtainable purity samples were dominated by decays with emission time constants of ∼ 250–280 ns, and lower purity samples were dominated by an ∼ 80 ns component. One sample was investigated further to better understand the monomer and excimer emissions of pyrene. The excimer-over-monomer intensity ratio decreases when the temperature goes down, with the monomer emission dominating below ∼ 87 K.

Precise and Long-Term Tracking of Mitochondria in Neurons using a Bioconjugatable and Photostable AIE Luminogen

Tracking mitochondrial movement in neurons is an attractive research field as dysregulation of mitochondrial motion is associated with multiple neurological diseases. To attain the precise trajectory of a single mitochondrion and achieve long-term imaging of mitochondria in neurons, specific and photostable fluorescent probes with a long emission lifetime are required. Existing mitochondrial targeting fluorescent dyes suffer from poor photostability, high toxicity, “always-on” behavior, and aggregation-caused quenching effect, which limit their use in studying mitochondria in neurons. To overcome these challenges, we designed and synthesized an aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active luminogen, TPAP-C5-yne, which consists of an activated alkyne terminus for bioconjugation with amines, and a cationic pyridinium moiety to selectively target mitochondria. For the first time using TPAP-C5-yne, we successfully tracked and analyzed the motion of a single mitochondrion in live primary hippocampal neurons accurately using real-time fluorescence images acquired by a sensitive EMCCD camera. In addition, long-term imaging of mitochondria in live neurons for a week is achieved by TPAP-C5-yne, which was not feasible with a commercially available mitochondrial targeting probe before.

Metamorphic Buffer Layer Platform for 1550 nm Single-Photon Sources Grown by MBE on (100) GaAs Substrate

We demonstrate single-photon emission with a low probability of multiphoton events of 5% in the C-band of telecommunication spectral range of standard silica fibers from molecular beam epitaxy grown (100)-GaAs-based structure with InAs quantum dots (QDs) on a metamorphic buffer layer. For this purpose, we propose and implement graded In content digitally alloyed InGaAs metamorphic buffer layer with maximal In content of 42% and GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflector underneath to enhance the extraction efficiency of QD emission. The fundamental limit of the emission rate for the investigated structures is 0.5 GHz based on an emission lifetime of 1.95 ns determined from time-resolved photoluminescence. We prove the relevance of a proposed technology platform for the realization of non-classical light sources in the context of fiber-based quantum communication applications.

Rational design of pyrrole derivatives with aggregation-induced phosphorescence characteristics for time-resolved and two-photon luminescence imaging

Pure organic room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials have been suggested to be promising bioimaging materials due to their good biocompatibility and long emission lifetime. Herein, we report a class of RTP materials. These materials are developed through the simple introduction of an aromatic carbonyl to a tetraphenylpyrrole molecule and also exhibit aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties. These molecules show non-emission in solution and purely phosphorescent emission in the aggregated state, which are desirable properties for biological imaging. Highly crystalline nanoparticles can be easily fabricated with a long emission lifetime (20 μs), which eliminate background fluorescence interference from cells and tissues. The prepared nanoparticles demonstrate two-photon absorption characteristics and can be excited by near infrared (NIR) light, making them promising materials for deep-tissue optical imaging. This integrated aggregation-induced phosphorescence (AIP) strategy diversifies the existing pool of bioimaging agents to inspire the development of bioprobes in the future.

Reversible Humidity-Driven Transformation of a Bimetallic {EuCo} Molecular Material: Structural, Sorption, and Photoluminescence Studies

Functional molecule-based solids built of metal complexes can reveal a great impact of external stimuli upon their optical, magnetic, electric, and mechanical properties. We report a novel molecular material, {[EuIII(H2O)3(pyrone)4][CoIII(CN)6]}·nH2O (1, n = 2; 2, n = 1), which was obtained by the self-assembly of Eu3+ and [Co(CN)6]3− ions in the presence of a small 2-pyrrolidinone (pyrone) ligand in an aqueous medium. The as-synthesized material, 1, consists of dinuclear cyanido-bridged {EuCo} molecules accompanied by two H-bonded water molecules. By lowering the relative humidity (RH) below 30% at room temperature, 1 undergoes a single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation related to the partial removal of crystallization water molecules which results in the new crystalline phase, 2. Both 1 and 2 solvates exhibit pronounced EuIII-centered visible photoluminescence. However, they differ in the energy splitting of the main emission band of a 5D0 → 7F2 origin, and the emission lifetime, which is longer in the partially dehydrated 2. As the 1 ↔ 2 structural transformation can be repeatedly reversed by changing the RH value, the reported material shows a room-temperature switching of detailed luminescent features including the ratio between emission components and the emission lifetime values.

Fast Delayed Emission in New Pyridazine-Based Compounds

Three novel donor-acceptor molecules comprising the underexplored pyridazine (Pydz) acceptor moiety have been synthesized and their structural, electrochemical and photophysical properties thoroughly characterized. Combining Pydz with two phenoxazine donor units linked via a phenyl bridge in a meta configuration (dPXZMePydz) leads to high reverse intersystem crossing rate kRISC = 3.9 · 106 s−1 and fast thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) with <500 ns delayed emission lifetime. Efficient triplet harvesting via the TADF mechanism is demonstrated in OLEDs using dPXZMePydz as the emitter but does not occur for compounds bearing weaker donor units.

A fluorescent calix[4]arene with naphthalene units at the upper rim exhibits long fluorescence emission lifetime without fluorescence quenching

Macrocyclic structure brings long fluorescence lifetime emission without fluorescence quenching and TD-DFT calculations revealed π–π interactions between the naphthalene rings.

SÍNTESE, CARACTERIZAÇÃO E ESTUDO DOS PARÂMETROS DE JUDD-OFELT DE COMPOSTOS β-DICETONATOS DE Eu(III) OU Sm(III)

SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND JUDD-OFELT ANALYSIS OF Eu(III) OR Sm(III) β-DIKETONATE COMPLEXES. The lanthanide complexes [Ln(bmdm)3(L)] where Ln(III) = Eu and Sm were synthesized successfully using the diketone (1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-(4-tert-butylphenyl) propane-1,3-dione) (bmdm) and (L) = 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), 2,2’-bipyridine (bipy) ligands. The coordination modes were determined as bidentate chelate by the FT-IR. The ground state geometry was determined using the Sparkle/AM1 implemented in MOPAC2016 package. Europium complexes exhibit the characteristic emission bands that arise from 5 D0→7 FJ (J = 0-4); the presence of just one 5 D0→7 F0 line transition means that this site is without the center of inversion.Samarium complexes display transitions at 4 G5/2→6 HJ (J = 5/2; 7/2; 9/2 and 11/2), being the 4 G5/2→6 H9/2 the most intense, indicating that the forced electric dipole mechanism is predominant when compared with the magnetic dipole ones. The intensity parameters Ω2 and Ω4 were calculated according to the emission spectra for Eu(III) and absorption spectra for Sm(III). The high Ω2 values demonstrated that the lanthanide ion in bipy or phen complexes is in a highly polarizable chemical environment. The emission lifetime (τ) increases compared with that of precursor aquo complexes, confirming that the non-radiative quenching is minimized. The low quantum efficiency is a result of NIR emissions and non-radiative transitions of Sm(III).

Guest-boosted phosphorescence efficiency of a supramolecular cage

The quantum yield and emission lifetime of the inclusion complexes can be fine-tuned via the variation of halobenzene guests.