Abstract
Producing room temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials from biomass resources using a solvent free method is essential but hard to achieve. Here, we discovered that lignin dissolved well in the liquid monomer, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA), due to extensive hydrogen bonding and non-bonding interactions between lignin and HEA. Motivated by this discovery, we developed a solvent free system consisting of HEA and urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) for converting lignin into RTP materials. With this design, lignin generated radicals upon UV irradiation, which initiated the polymerization of HEA (as monomer) and UDMA (as crosslinker). The as-obtained polymer network rigidifies lignin and activates the humidity/water-resistant RTP of lignin with a lifetime of 202.9 ms. Moreover, the afterglow color was successfully tuned to red after loading with RhB via energy transfer (TS-FRET). Using these properties, the as-developed material was used as photocured multiple-emission RTP inks, luminescent coatings and a smart anti-counterfeiting logo for a medicine bottle.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2455 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 12 Mar 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Mar 2025 |
Data Availability Statement
All relevant data are included in this article and its Supplementary Information file. All data are available from the corresponding author (Zhijun Chen) upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.Funding
Z.J.C. wishes to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32471803) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2572022CG02). T.D.J. wishes to thank the University of Bath and the Open Research Fund of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University (2020ZD01) for support.