journal article·2026-01Open access

Butterfly‐Shaped Guest Molecules Enable Tunable Room‐Temperature Phosphorescence in Host‐Guest Doped Systems

Zongyong Lou, Wenhui Feng, Kaining Wang, Kun Gong, Guangyu Wen, Denghui Ji

Advanced Science· Volume 13· Issue 2

Abstract

Abstract Organic room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have attracted significant interest due to their potential in optoelectronics and anti‐counterfeiting. However, achieving multicolor‐tunable and long‐lived RTP with simple, low‐cost systems remains challenging. Herein, a facile host‐guest doping strategy is developed to realize efficient and color‐tunable RTP by embedding butterfly‐shaped triphenylamine‐based guest molecules (TPA, DBD, and DBDBD) into various host matrices (e.g., TPP, BPP, or CA). The doped crystals exhibit distinct afterglow colors (green to yellow) and prolonged long‐persistent luminescence (LPL) (from 1 to 6 s of afterglow time) and phosphorescence lifetimes up to 763.33 ms, governed by host‐guest energy transfer and intersystem crossing enhancement. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the guest's electron‐donating ability and the host's heavy‐atom effect (e.g., P in TPP) synergistically promote charge separation and suppress non‐radiative decay. Notably, DBDBD:TPP shows the longest LPL (6 s of afterglow time) due to optimal energy level alignment and strong intermolecular interactions. By leveraging the time‐ and color‐dependent afterglow, applications in multilevel information encryption and anti‐counterfeiting are demonstrated, where encrypted messages are dynamically revealed under UV excitation. This work provides a simple yet versatile approach to designing low‐cost, multicolor RTP materials for advanced photonic applications.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Luminescence and Fluorescent Materials · Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research · Perovskite Materials and Applications

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Hebei Petroleum University of Technology Cheng De 067000 P. R. China

School of Chemical Engineering and Technology Tianjin University Tianjin 300354 P. R. China

College of Physics and Hebei Advanced Thin Film Laboratory Hebei Normal University Shijiazhuang 050024 P. R. China

Science College Shijiazhuang University Shijiazhuang 050035 P. R. China

References (36)

Show source-provided references
1. 10.1002/anie.20240377310.1002/anie.202403773 ↗
2. 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c0040110.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00401 ↗
3. 10.1002/adma.20250084110.1002/adma.202500841 ↗
4. 10.1002/adma.20250355010.1002/adma.202503550 ↗
5. 10.1038/s41467-024-47648-z10.1038/s41467-024-47648-z ↗
6. 10.1002/anie.20250858710.1002/anie.202508587 ↗
7. 10.1002/adma.20241232510.1002/adma.202412325 ↗
8. 10.1002/anie.20251311310.1002/anie.202513113 ↗
9. 10.1002/adfm.20220889510.1002/adfm.202208895 ↗
10. 10.1002/anie.20231908910.1002/anie.202319089 ↗
11. 10.1002/adom.20240098010.1002/adom.202400980 ↗
12. 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c0109510.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01095 ↗
13. 10.1021/jacs.5c0573310.1021/jacs.5c05733 ↗
14. 10.1002/anie.20221754710.1002/anie.202217547 ↗
15. 10.1002/adma.20250566710.1002/adma.202505667 ↗
16. 10.1002/adma.20220128010.1002/adma.202201280 ↗
17. 10.1021/jacs.4c1868610.1021/jacs.4c18686 ↗
18. 10.1002/adma.20200781110.1002/adma.202007811 ↗
19. 10.1002/adom.20240035910.1002/adom.202400359 ↗
20. 10.1002/advs.20240469810.1002/advs.202404698 ↗
21. 10.1002/anie.20231763110.1002/anie.202317631 ↗
22. 10.1038/s41467-022-28759-x10.1038/s41467-022-28759-x ↗
23. 10.1002/adfm.20231406910.1002/adfm.202314069 ↗
24. 10.1002/marc.20210002110.1002/marc.202100021 ↗
25. 10.1016/j.nantod.2024.10251510.1016/j.nantod.2024.102515 ↗
26. 10.1039/D1SC01175H10.1039/D1SC01175H ↗
27. 10.1021/jacs.4c0888910.1021/jacs.4c08889 ↗
28. 10.1016/j.dyepig.2021.10950110.1016/j.dyepig.2021.109501 ↗
29. 10.1002/adom.20220261310.1002/adom.202202613 ↗
30. 10.1002/agt2.37010.1002/agt2.370 ↗
31. 10.1039/D1TC00706H10.1039/D1TC00706H ↗
32. Mao J. · J. Chinese Universities · 2023 · 44
33. 10.1021/jacs.6b0382910.1021/jacs.6b03829 ↗
34. 10.1002/anie.20180994510.1002/anie.201809945 ↗
35. 10.1002/anie.20191555610.1002/anie.201915556 ↗
36. 10.1016/j.cej.2025.16623910.1016/j.cej.2025.166239 ↗