Building bridges through dynamic coupling for organic phosphorescence

X Xin Li W Wenlang Li (Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Division of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China) Z Ziqi Deng (Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China) J Jingtian Wang S Shan He (Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorder, Division of Life Science, and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering) X Xinwen Ou (Department of Chemistry, the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China) D David Lee Phillips (Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong 99077, China) G Guanjun Xiao (State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, College of Physics) B Bo Zou (State Key Laboratory of High Pressure and Superhard Materials, College of Physics) R Ryan T. K. Kwok (Department of Chemistry, the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China) J Jianwei Sun J Jacky W. Y. Lam (Department of Chemistry, the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China) Z Zhihong Guo (Department of Chemistry and the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China) B Ben Zhong Tang (School of Science and Engineering, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Aggregate Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Longgang, Shenzhen 518172, Guangdong, P. R. China)

Abstract

Abstract Achieving long-lived room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) in organic materials has garnered significant attention in the field of optoelectronics. Although many host−guest systems with versatile performances have been developed, their photophysical mechanisms remain unclear due to the complicated intermolecular interactions and multiple energy transfer pathways, leading to unavoidable trial-and-error in molecular designs. Here we reveal that the dynamic coupling process in the excited state is crucial for inducing phosphorescence, where host and guest molecules firstly couple to enhance the intersystem crossing efficiency, and then decouple to transfer excitons to the triplet state of guest. Such a process shows universal applicability and tunable performance, with the longest lifetime for red RTP (τ P = 2.4 s) reported so far. We anticipate the present work as a starting point for more sophisticated models on excited-state dynamic behaviors within host−guest systems.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 16, Issue 1
Published July 09, 2025
ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher Nature Portfolio

Journal Info

Nature Communications

Nature Portfolio

ISSN: 2041-1723 Open Access Life Sciences

Authors (14)

X

Xin Li

W

Wenlang Li

Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Division of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China

Z

Ziqi Deng

Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China

J

Jingtian Wang

S

Shan He

Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorder, Division of Life Science, and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

X

Xinwen Ou

Department of Chemistry, the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China

D

David Lee Phillips

Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong 99077, China

G

Guanjun Xiao

State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, College of Physics

B

Bo Zou

State Key Laboratory of High Pressure and Superhard Materials, College of Physics

R

Ryan T. K. Kwok

Department of Chemistry, the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China

J

Jianwei Sun

J

Jacky W. Y. Lam

Department of Chemistry, the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China

Z

Zhihong Guo

Department of Chemistry and the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China

B

Ben Zhong Tang

School of Science and Engineering, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Aggregate Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Longgang, Shenzhen 518172, Guangdong, P. R. China