Abstract
Advances in sensor technique benefit considerably from the donor–acceptor (DA) type aggregation-induced emission (AIE) systems, owing to their sensitive ICT emission together with emission controllability at solid state. In this report, we present a tailor-made D–A type AIE luminogen, DBABN, and study its AIE and ICT natures. Our systematic investigation has observed remarkable enhancement in emission intensity together with hypsochromic shift in emission wavelength in response to methanol vapor, and further confirmed its high selectivity. As supported by DFT calculations, including electrostatic potential map and molecular orbital amplitude plots, hydrogen-bonding between DBABN and methanol molecule would be formed and further stabilized by electrostatic attraction, which weakens the ICT but simultaneously reinforces the AIE. Therefore the mechanism for the stimuli-responsive emission is illustrated. Utilizing such property, a film sensor for methanol was developed, with a detection limit down to 9.65 ppm. Furthermore, the signal can be easily visualized.
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