Aggregation-Induced Emission of Gold Nanoclusters by Ionic Liquids for White Light-Emitting Diode and Multiple-Ion Probe Applications

Moshuqi Zhu; Qiaofeng Yao; Zhihe Liu; Jian Liu; Minghua Liu; Minnan Long; Jianping Xie

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02042

Aggregation-Induced Emission of Gold Nanoclusters by Ionic Liquids for White Light-Emitting Diode and Multiple-Ion Probe Applications

J Phys Chem Lett. 2022 Aug 25;13(33):7722-7730. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02042. Epub 2022 Aug 15.

Authors

Moshuqi Zhu^{1

2}, Qiaofeng Yao^{3

2}, Zhihe Liu^{3

2}, Jian Liu⁴, Minghua Liu¹, Minnan Long⁴, Jianping Xie^{3

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Environment & Safety Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China.
² Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore 117585.
³ Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Binhai New City, Fuzhou 350207, China.
⁴ College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.

PMID: 35969058
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02042

Abstract

White light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) require stable luminophores with bright emission, a large Stokes shift, and good processability. Herein, we fabricate WLEDs on the basis of synergetic aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of Au nanoclusters (NCs) induced by ionic liquids. Au NCs with orange emission at 615 nm are electrostatically bonded to 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium acetate (EmimOAc). The electrostatic bonding not only introduces complementary blue emission (from EmimOAc) into Au NCs but also enhances cluster emission via an intercluster AIE mechanism. Overall white emission of Au NC-EmimOAc composites can be further improved by their encapsulation into nanogels templated by cationic chitosan. Color conversion films constructed from these nanogels manifest ultrabright white emission on a commercial GaN ultraviolet LED chip, featuring a CIE 1931 color coordinate of (0.366, 0.368) and greatly enhanced mechanical strength. By properly selecting ionic liquids, we are also able to achieve multiple-ion detection of Cu²⁺, Sn²⁺, and Fe³⁺.