Humidity-resistant organic room-temperature phosphorescence materials synthesized using catalyst-free click reaction

Abstract

Organic room-temperature phosphorescence (ORTP) materials have been extensively explored in diverse applications, and are typically synthesized using carefully chosen polymers or under rigorous reaction conditions. Here we report a universal catalyst-free B-O click chemistry strategy to synthesize ORTP materials and thus avoid most of the disadvantages of traditional methods. Using this strategy, we synthesize to our knowledge previously unreported humidity-resistant ORTP materials via the click reaction of gallic acid and copolymers of 3-acrylamidephenylboronic acid and hydrophilic monomers. Intense phosphorescence emission is observed when placing the ORTP materials at 120 oC or immersing in water for 2 h. Finally, 3D ORTP models are fabricated, which is useful for the design of flexible ORTP devices. The facility and generality of this catalyst-free B-O click chemistry strategy together with improved humidity resistance holds substantial promise of these ORTP materials in applications including anticounterfeiting and displays in harsh environments.