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Blue organic long-persistent luminescence via upconversion from charge-transfer to locally excited singlet state

Author

Listed:
  • Zesen Lin

    (Onna-son
    4 Engineering Drive 1)

  • Jinting Ye

    (Suzhou Industrial Park
    Inner Mongolia Minzu University)

  • Shin Shinohara

    (Inage)

  • Yuya Tanaka

    (Kiryu)

  • Rengo Yoshioka

    (Onna-son)

  • Chin-Yiu Chan

    (Nishi-ku)

  • Yi-Ting Lee

    (Nishi-ku)

  • Xun Tang

    (Nishi-ku)

  • Kirill Mitrofanov

    (Onna-son)

  • Kai Wang

    (Suzhou Industrial Park)

  • Hayato Ouchi

    (Onna-son)

  • Liliia Moshniaha

    (Onna-son)

  • Yemineni S. L. V. Narayana

    (Onna-son)

  • Hisao Ishii

    (Inage
    Inage
    Inage)

  • Xiao-Hong Zhang

    (Suzhou Industrial Park
    Soochow University)

  • Chihaya Adachi

    (Nishi-ku
    Nishi-ku)

  • Xian-Kai Chen

    (Suzhou Industrial Park
    Soochow University)

  • Ryota Kabe

    (Onna-son)

Abstract

Long-persistent luminescence (LPL) materials have applications from safety signage to bioimaging; however, existing organic LPL (OLPL) systems do not align with human scotopic vision, which is sensitive to blue light. We present a strategy to blueshift the emissions in binary OLPL systems by upconverting the charge-transfer (CT) to a locally excited (LE) singlet state. Through rigorous steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy and wavelength-resolved thermoluminescence measurements, we provide the direct experimental evidence for this upconversion in OLPL systems featuring small energy offsets between the lowest-energy CT and LE singlet states. These systems exhibited strong room temperature LPL, particularly when extrinsic electron traps are added. Importantly, the developed OLPL system achieved Class A (ISO 17398) LPL, matching well with human scotopic vision. The findings not only elucidate the role of small energy offsets in modulating LPL but also provide potential avenues for enhancing the efficiency and applicability of OLPL materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Zesen Lin & Jinting Ye & Shin Shinohara & Yuya Tanaka & Rengo Yoshioka & Chin-Yiu Chan & Yi-Ting Lee & Xun Tang & Kirill Mitrofanov & Kai Wang & Hayato Ouchi & Liliia Moshniaha & Yemineni S. L. V. Nar, 2025. "Blue organic long-persistent luminescence via upconversion from charge-transfer to locally excited singlet state," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58048-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58048-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hironori Kaji & Hajime Suzuki & Tatsuya Fukushima & Katsuyuki Shizu & Katsuaki Suzuki & Shosei Kubo & Takeshi Komino & Hajime Oiwa & Furitsu Suzuki & Atsushi Wakamiya & Yasujiro Murata & Chihaya Adach, 2015. "Purely organic electroluminescent material realizing 100% conversion from electricity to light," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Jing Liu & Shangshang Chen & Deping Qian & Bhoj Gautam & Guofang Yang & Jingbo Zhao & Jonas Bergqvist & Fengling Zhang & Wei Ma & Harald Ade & Olle Inganäs & Kenan Gundogdu & Feng Gao & He Yan, 2016. "Fast charge separation in a non-fullerene organic solar cell with a small driving force," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(7), pages 1-7, July.
    3. Zesen Lin & Ryota Kabe & Kai Wang & Chihaya Adachi, 2020. "Influence of energy gap between charge-transfer and locally excited states on organic long persistence luminescence," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, December.
    4. Xian-Kai Chen & Veaceslav Coropceanu & Jean-Luc Brédas, 2018. "Assessing the nature of the charge-transfer electronic states in organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Ryota Kabe & Chihaya Adachi, 2017. "Organic long persistent luminescence," Nature, Nature, vol. 550(7676), pages 384-387, October.
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