Dynamic Room Temperature Phosphorescence of Silane-Functionalized Carbon Dots Confining within Silica for Anti-Counterfeiting Applications

Small. 2024 Apr;20(16):e2306323. doi: 10.1002/smll.202306323. Epub 2023 Dec 1.

Abstract

Room temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials with long-lived, excitation-dependent, and time-dependent phosphorescence are highly desirable but very hard to achieve. Herein, this work reports a rational strategy of multiple wavelength excitation and time-dependent dynamic RTP color by confining silane-functionalized carbon dots (CDs) in a silica matrix (Si-CDs@SiO2). The Si-CDs@SiO2 possesses unique green-light-excitation and a change in phosphorescence color from yellow to green. A slow-decaying phosphorescence at 500 nm with a lifetime of 1.28 s and a fast-decaying phosphorescence at 580 nm with a lifetime of 0.90 s are observed under 365 nm of irradiation, which originated from multiple surface triplet states of the Si-CDs@SiO2. Given the unique dynamic RTP properties, the Si-CDs@SiO2 are demonstrated for applications in fingerprint recognition and multidimensional dynamic information encryption. These findings will open an avenue to explore dynamic phosphorescent materials and significantly broaden their applications.

Keywords: dynamic room‐temperature phosphorescence; multi‐wavelength excitation; silane‐functionalized carbon dots; time‐dependent RTP colors.