Wide-range color-tunable afterglow emission by the modulation of triplet exciton transition processes based on buckybowl structure

Buckybowl structures as non-uniform electrostatic potential distributions of polycyclic aromatic materials show a unique photoelectric performance. In this work, OTC was utilized for dynamic modulation of triplet exciton transition processes. Five host molecules with different functional units were selected, thus providing different intermolecular interactions in the host/guest systems. Therefore, the delayed emissions were regulated from 536 to 624 nm via the tuning of the triplet exciton transition processes of OTC in different hosts. Experimental data and theoretical calculations revealed that the varied triplet transition behaviors resulted from the competition between the intersystem crossing (ISC) process of OTC-monomer and the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) process of OTC-aggregates. This work proves the superior structure of buckybowl-based luminophore for controlling triplet exciton transition processes and supplies a new perspective for persistent afterglow luminophore design.