Multilayer films for photon upconversion-driven photoswitching.

Photoswitchable materials are of significant interest for diverse applications from energy and data storage to additive manufacturing and soft robotics. However, the absorption profile is often a limiting factor for practical applications. This can be overcome using indirect excitation complementary photophysical pathways, such as triplet sensitisation or photon upconversion.

Ambient solid-state triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion in ureasil organic-inorganic hybrid hosts.

Triplet-triplet-annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) has attracted significant attention as an approach to harvest low energy solar photons that cannot be captured by conventional photovoltaic devices. However, device integration requires the design of solid-state TTA-UC materials that combine high upconversion efficiency with long term stability. Herein, we report an efficient solid-state TTA-UC system based on organic-inorganic hybrid polymers known as ureasils as hosts for the archetypal sensitiser/emitter pair of palladium(ii) octaethylporphyrin and diphenylanthracene.

Aggregation-induced emission from silole-based lumophores embedded in organic-inorganic hybrid hosts.

Aggregation-induced emitters - or AIEgens - are often symbolised by their photoluminescence enhancement as a result of aggregation in a poor solvent. However, for some applications, it is preferable for the AIE response to be induced in the solid-state. Here, the ability of an organic-inorganic hybrid polymer host to induce the AIE response from embedded silole-based lumophores has been explored.