Pressure-Induced Blue-Shifted and Enhanced Emission: A Cooperative Effect between Aggregation-Induced Emission and Energy-Transfer Suppression

Most organic piezochromic materials exhibit red-shifted and quenched emission as pressure increases. However, an abnormal phenomenon of pressure-induced blue-shifted and enhanced emission is observed in a 9-(3-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl)anthracene crystal, which is based on discrete pi-pi anthracene (AN) dimers stacking with tetraphenylethylene (TPE) as spacer. A blue-shifted emission appears and strengthens when the pressure is more than 1.23 GPa, and it reaches the maximum when the pressure is 4.28 GPa. This phenomenon is ascribed to the cooperative effect between the aggregation-induced emission of TPE units and energy-transfer suppression from TPE to an AN excimer. This work reports a new concept in the piezochromic field and provides a novel strategy to achieve luminescence from a high-lying excited state.