Photo-induced crystallization with emission enhancement (PICEE)

Abstract

Compared to the universal photochemical mechanism in photoactivation, the photophysical-dominant behavior is rarely reported. In this study, a luminogen with aggregation-induced emission characteristic named TIOdB with a double-ionized framework was prepared, and it exhibited an obvious photoactivation phenomenon with continuous light irradiation. Employing a series of spectral and electro experiments, the morphology and crystal analyses, and theoretical simulation, the potential mechanism of photo-induced crystallization with emission enhancement (PICEE) is presented to illuminate this photoactivation process, which offered a novel strategy for the IN SITU formation of nanocrystals. Particularly, the linear relationship between the illumination intensity and fluorescence enhancement of TIOdB was revealed, which has the potential to optimize plant growth conditions. Besides, TIOdB could be used as a high-quality mitochondrion imaging probe with the light-activated property and cancer cell killing performance.