Emission Properties of Individual AIE-Luminogens in Solution at Room Temperature

Here,we combined the photon antibunching analysis,fluorescence correlation spectroscopy,and time-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy(TD-FLIM)to study the emission properties of a representative AIE-luminogen—4,4’-(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole-4,7-diyl)bis(N,N-diphenylaniline)(TPA-BT)at the single emitter level in a tetrahydrofuran(THF)/water solution where water is a non-solvent for TPA-BT.Our findings suggest that,at a constant water fraction in the solution,the size of TPA-BT aggregates increases with the TPA-BT concentration;TPA-BT aggregates are not a quantum emitter at room temperature in the solution.Moreover,utilizing TD-FLIM and a gel trapping technique allowed us to study the fluorescence lifetime of individual TPA-BT aggregates.Adding a polar solvent like water does not result in an overall decrease in fluorescence lifetime.Rather,it causes the fluorescence lifetime distribution to become wider,and only some molecules experience a decrease in their fluorescence lifetime.These results could represent a step forward in further understanding the photophysics of AIE-luminogens.