Wide-Range Tuning and Enhancement of Organic Long-Persistent Luminescence Using Emitter Dopants

Most long-persistent luminescent (LPL) materials, which slowly release energy absorbed from ambient light, are based on inorganic compounds. Organic long-persistent luminescent (OLPL) systems have advantages over inorganic LPL materials in terms of solubility, transparency, and flexibility. Here, the characteristics of OLPL emission are improved by doping emitter molecules into an OLPL matrix. Greenish-blue to red and even warm white emission are achieved by energy transfer from exciplex in the OLPL matrix to the emitter dopants. The dopants also improve brightness and emission duration through efficient radiative decay and the trapping of electrons, respectively. This technique will enable the development of a wide range of organic glow-in-the-dark paints.