Issue 4, 2021

Dynamic adjustment of emission from both singlets and triplets: the role of excited state conformation relaxation and charge transfer in phenothiazine derivates

Abstract

Luminescence behaviors in organic emitters are influenced greatly by the molecular conformation. However, the current research on room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) mainly focuses on fixed molecular conformation, such as that in single crystals and rigid hosts. Herein, by linking the phenothiazine moiety with nitrogen heterocycles, we constructed four phenothiazine derivates having planar structure in the ground state. In the excited state, a large conformation relaxation occurs to give a dynamically tunable fluorescence and phosphorescence by the extent of the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). In systems with a reduced ICT character, multiple emissions consisting of fluorescence and phosphorescence were observed and a white light emission was obtained in the amorphous film state. When increasing the ICT, strong spin mixing between the singlet and triplet occurs in the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state, which is favorable for a short triplet lifetime. The emission of the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) or short RTP depends on the allowance or forbidden of fluorescence in the twisted excited state conformation. This work demonstrates the adjustment of the singlet and triplet emission behaviors through controlling the extent of TICT and provides an insight into the relationship between the molecular conformation and triplet exciton dynamics for future applications.

Graphical abstract: Dynamic adjustment of emission from both singlets and triplets: the role of excited state conformation relaxation and charge transfer in phenothiazine derivates

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Nov 2020
Accepted
15 Dec 2020
First published
16 Dec 2020

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021,9, 1378-1386

Dynamic adjustment of emission from both singlets and triplets: the role of excited state conformation relaxation and charge transfer in phenothiazine derivates

W. Qiu, X. Cai, M. Li, L. Wang, Y. He, W. Xie, Z. Chen, M. Liu and S. Su, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, 9, 1378 DOI: 10.1039/D0TC05343K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements