Photoactive Luminescence in a Silver Cluster Crystal

Abstract

Abstract Due to their atomically precise structures and tunable electronic properties, coinage metal clusters have emerged as a significant class of luminescent materials, demonstrating broad application potential in the development of optical sensors and light‐emitting diodes. Recently, luminescent coinage metal clusters exhibiting novel photophysical properties, such as afterglow emission, circularly polarized luminescence, near‐infrared luminescence, and x‐ray excited luminescence, have been successively reported, attracting significant research attention. In this work, the first photo‐responsive luminescent silver cluster ( Ag 8 ) was reported, whose phosphorescence can be activated through UV light irradiation in crystal state. Mechanism study revealed that the photo‐response of Ag 8 was attributed to the photo‐induced oxygen scavenging by methanol within the lattice, which relieved the quenching of the phosphorescence of the metal cluster, leading to a “turn‐on” response. Due to its reversible photoactive luminescent properties in the solid state and excellent stability, a specialized photo‐responsive ink for three‐dimensional printing was developed based on Ag 8 . This study expands the range of luminescent coinage metal clusters and offers a novel strategy for the development of coinage metal cluster‐based stimuli‐responsive materials.