Color-tunable white-light-emitting materials based on liquid-filled capsules and thermally responsive dyes

Abstract

Color-tunable white-light-emitting materials are currently attracting much attention because of their potential applications in artificial lighting, sensing, and imaging. However, preparation of these systems from organic emitters is often cumbersome due to the interchromophoric interactions occurring upon solvent drying in the final solid materials, which can be hardly predicted and may lead to detrimental effects. To circumvent these obstacles, we have developed a new fabrication methodology that relies on dye encapsulation within liquid-filled capsules, thus enabling direct transfer of the luminescent properties from solution to the solid state and as such, rational design of miniaturized white-light-emitting materials. By introducing a thermally responsive chromophore into the capsules, these materials are further endowed with color tunability, which does not only allow ample modulation of the emitted color but also facilitate external fine control of the system so as to ensure precise realization of white light at the desired temperature and excitation wavelength.