Surfactant regulated aggregation-induced emission of tetraphenylethene-based tetracationic salt for the construction of light harvesting supramolecular system

Abstract

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) is an efficient optical molecular scale that has been widely used in many fields, and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminescent materials show great potential in constructing FRET systems. In this paper, an efficient supramolecular polymer of AIE was prepared in aqueous solution based on tetraphenylethene-based tetracationic salt molecule (1) with AIE properties, using the hydrophobic effect and electrostatic interaction with sodium dodecyl sulfonate (AS). Then, based on supramolecular aggregate (1-AS) and Rhodamine B (RB) dye, the efficient FRET system was prepared in aqueous solution with 1-AS as energy donor and RB as energy acceptor. The Stokes shift of the system can reach 208 nm, and the fluorescence intensity of RB aqueous solution with the same concentration increased 11.80 times. Moreover, the energy transfer efficiency and the antenna effect value reached 77.5%, 14.3, respectively. The method based on simple AIE donor to achieve efficient luminescence of dye molecules is of great significance for the realization of efficient light-trapping system of aqueous solution in practical applications.