Huifang Shi

Purely organic room‐temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials show great potential for enabling highly efficient electrochemiluminescence (ECL). However, current research has predominantly focused on photoluminescence (PL), electroluminescence (EL), mechanoluminescence (ML), and x‐ray radioluminescence (RL), their ECL behavior has not been investigated. In this study, we report a series of purely organic RTP materials (DPy, FPy, and TPy), constructed via a donor–acceptor (D–A) skeleton and heavy atom effect, with TPy demonstrating the highest phosphorescence quantum yield of 75.7%. Importantly, ECL emission from DPy, FPy, and TPy particles is successfully achieved. Mechanistic studies reveal that RTP‐based ECL operates via a dual‐pathway process involving both a low oxidation potential pathway and the annihilation reaction pathway. These findings significantly broaden the applicability of RTP materials, thereby advancing the development of ECL systems.

Purely organic room‐temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials show great potential for enabling highly efficient electrochemiluminescence (ECL). However, current research has predominantly focused on photoluminescence (PL), electroluminescence (EL), mechanoluminescence (ML), and x‐ray radioluminescence (RL), their ECL behavior has not been investigated. In this study, we report a series of purely organic RTP materials (DPy, FPy, and TPy), constructed via a donor–acceptor (D–A) skeleton and heavy atom effect, with TPy demonstrating the highest phosphorescence quantum yield of 75.7%. Importantly, ECL emission from DPy, FPy, and TPy particles is successfully achieved. Mechanistic studies reveal that RTP‐based ECL operates via a dual‐pathway process involving both a low oxidation potential pathway and the annihilation reaction pathway. These findings significantly broaden the applicability of RTP materials, thereby advancing the development of ECL systems.

Scintillation, the phenomenon of luminescence under bombardment of x‐rays, excites multiple areas, including ionizing radiation detection, biomedical imaging, and electron microscopy. For organic scintillators, employing triplet excitons represents a useful strategy to increase the radioluminescence intensity. However, utilization of the triplet excitons generally conflicts with the development of fast scintillators, which are key to fast‐timing medical radiography. Here, we design a series of efficient fluorophores with anti‐Kasha energy levels, enabling fast scintillation by effectively utilizing high‐lying triplet excitons. As a result, the fluorescent scintillators exhibit short lifetimes in the nanosecond range and a low detection limit of 21.7 nGy s ⁻¹ , which is two orders of magnitude lower than the dosage for x‐ray medical diagnostics. Encouraged by the results, we further employ high‐throughput virtual screening to accelerate the development of fast organic scintillators and demonstrate their potential in advanced radiography. This design principle could provide inspirations to exploit efficient fast organic scintillators, thereby advancing the applications of organic scintillators in the x‐ray community.

Scintillation, the phenomenon of luminescence under bombardment of x‐rays, excites multiple areas, including ionizing radiation detection, biomedical imaging, and electron microscopy. For organic scintillators, employing triplet excitons represents a useful strategy to increase the radioluminescence intensity. However, utilization of the triplet excitons generally conflicts with the development of fast scintillators, which are key to fast‐timing medical radiography. Here, we design a series of efficient fluorophores with anti‐Kasha energy levels, enabling fast scintillation by effectively utilizing high‐lying triplet excitons. As a result, the fluorescent scintillators exhibit short lifetimes in the nanosecond range and a low detection limit of 21.7 nGy s ⁻¹ , which is two orders of magnitude lower than the dosage for x‐ray medical diagnostics. Encouraged by the results, we further employ high‐throughput virtual screening to accelerate the development of fast organic scintillators and demonstrate their potential in advanced radiography. This design principle could provide inspirations to exploit efficient fast organic scintillators, thereby advancing the applications of organic scintillators in the x‐ray community.

Ultralong organic phosphorescence (UOP) materials are garnering significant attention for their potential in advanced optoelectronics. Despite recent progress, achieving reversible mechano‐responsive UOP remains a formidable challenge, particularly for materials capable of dynamic afterglow color tuning. Herein, we propose an effective strategy to dynamically tune UOP by modulating intermolecular energy transfer via precise mechanical control. Under mechanical stimuli, the resulting composite polymer films exhibit a distinct ratiometric transition in delayed emission, characterized by an intensity decrease at 500/534 nm with a concurrent enhancement at 600 nm. Notably, this long‐lived luminescence demonstrates a more pronounced response to mechanical deformation than prompt fluorescence, demonstrating an intrinsic superiority of time‐gated signaling in eliminating background interference. Furthermore, the polymer displays exceptional reversibility and durability, recovering its initial state either spontaneously under ambient conditions or at an accelerated rate via thermal treatment. This unique ratiometric mechano‐responsivity facilitates high‐contrast, high‐fidelity applications in impact sensing and occlusal force mapping. This work provides a universal platform for engineering smart UOP materials and expands the applications of phosphorescent polymers in advanced sensing technologies.

Organic room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have attracted significant attention in the fields of organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs), secure data encryption, chemical sensing, bioimaging, and scintillation, driven by their superior triplet exciton utilization, large Stokes shifts, and long‐lived emission. However, traditional RTP systems are predominantly synthesized in the bulk state, resulting in inherent mechanical brittleness and poor aqueous dispersibility that impede their integration into complex biological environments. Developing high‐efficiency nanoscale organic phosphors that maintain intense triplet emission remains a formidable challenge. This review provides a comprehensive overview of prepared methods for phosphorescent nanoparticles (NPs) and elucidates molecular design strategies tailored to optimize RTP performance for biomedical frontiers. Specifically, we highlight their transformative potential in advanced bioimaging and photodynamic cancer therapy. Finally, we discuss current bottlenecks and offer a prospective outlook on future advancements, aiming to bridge the gap between fundamental molecular design and clinical translatability.

Organic room‐temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials have attracted significant attention in the field of flexible electronics due to their low cost, light weight, long emission lifetime, and large Stokes shift. Although conventional strategies such as crystal engineering and host‐guest doping have proven effective for achieving RTP, these methods typically result in brittleness and fragility of organic materials, severely limiting their practical applications in flexible electronic devices. Therefore, it is imperative to develop organic RTP materials with high flexibility. This review focuses on the latest research progress in flexible organic RTP materials, covering two types of material systems: organic crystals and polymers. This review not only highlights the challenges in achieving mechanical flexibility of organic RTP materials, but also discusses strategies for developing high‐performance flexible organic RTP materials, facilitate practical applications of anti‐counterfeiting technologies, flexible displays, and bioimaging.

Ionic bonds possess excellent advantages in organic phosphorescence enhancement due to their intense electrostatic interactions, non-directional, and unsaturated characteristics. Nowadays, host-guest doping is the mainstream strategy for synthesizing room-temperature phosphorescent materials. While this strategy may suffer from compatible molecular configurations between host and guest, it needs precise molecular design and synthesis. Herein, ionic alkyl chain molecules are selected as hosts to prepare ionic phosphorescent materials handily. The host materials are suitable for diverse guests, simply attaching quaternary ammonium groups to chromophores. By altering the isolated chromophores, diverse phosphorescence colors from blue to orange-red can be emitted with long-lived lifetimes up to 572.27 ms. Consecutive ionic bonds can be formed in host-guest materials to construct ionic-bonding networks, thereby effectively restricting the movement of guest molecules and minimizing non-radiative transitions. Notably, the matching principle of the alkyl chain in the ionic host-guest system not only provides an ordered and rigid environment but also stimulates the external heavy-atom effect effectively, thus riveting chromophores for shining phosphorescence. This strategy, through the synergistic effects of host-guest doping and ionic-bonding networks, provides a reference for studying isolated-molecular phosphorescence with non-conjugated hosts.

Communications Chemistry is pleased to present a Collection of articles on triplet-harvesting materials. Here, the Guest Editors introduce the topic and look towards the future of the field.