A new blue AIEgen based on tetraphenylethene with multiple potential applications in fluorine ion sensors, mechanochromism, and organic light-emitting diodes

Article abstract of DOI:10.1039/c7nj04742h

In this work, we report a new blue AIEgen, (9,9-dimethyl-7-(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl)-9H-fluoren-2-yl)dimesitylborane (TPE-FB), composed of dimesitylboryl, fluorene and tetraphenylethene (TPE) groups. The thermal stability, electronic structure, opt

Full text of DOI:10.1039/c7nj04742h

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ISSN 1144-0546
PAPER
Jason B. Benedict et al.
The role of atropisomers on the photo-reactivity and fatigue of
diarylethene-based metal–organic frameworks
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A new blue AIEgen based on tetraphenylethene with multiple
potential applications in fluorine ion sensor, mechanochromism,
and organic light-emitting diodes
Received 00th January 20xx,
Accepted 00th January 20xx
Yinghao Li,a Zeyan Zhuang,a Gengwei Lin,a Zhiming Wang,*a Pingchuan Shen,a Yi Xiong,a Bohan
Wang,a Shuming Chen,b Zujin Zhao*a and Ben Zhong Tang*ac
DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x
www.rsc.org/
In this work, we report
a
new blue AIEgen, (9,9-dimethyl-7-(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl)-9H-fluoren-2-
yl)dimesitylborane (TPE-FB), composed of dimesitylboryl, fluorene and tetraphenylethene (TPE) groups. The thermal
stability, electronic structure, optical property, transient fluorescence decay and electroluminescence of TPE-FB are
studied. TPE-FB shows high thermal stability and good aggregation-induced emission (AIE) property. Due to the presence
of dimesitylboryl group, TPE-FB can interact with fluorine ion to cause a blue-shift in absorption spectrum and apparent
decrease in emission spectrum. TPE-FB also exhibits mechanochromic property, and the fluorescence color of its solid can
be reversibly switched between blue and sky-blue by simple grinding and heating (fuming). TPE-FB can function as light-
emitting layer in nondoped sky-blue OLEDs with good performances.
skeleton is a feasible strategy with plenty of successful cases.
Dimesitylboryl is an interesting group with high electron affinity and
Introduction
The traditional organic luminescent materials show strong
fluorescence in dilute solutions but they often become weak
emitters in the aggregated state, presenting a thorny problem of
aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ).1 However, novel luminogens
with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) can behavior oppositely,
which means their luminescence intensity increases in aggregates
or thin films.2 This concept provides a new avenue to solve the ACQ
problem of many leading chromophores. At present, AIE
luminogens (AIEgens) are developed rapidly, and there have been
numerous AIEgens with diverse structures and functions.
Tetraphenylethene (TPE) is one of the mostly studied and used
AIEgens so far.3 It has a simple molecular structure and excellent AIE
characteristic, and can be easily modified to construct efficient
solid-state luminescent materials. To date, various TPE-based
emitters have been explored for the applications in many frontier
fields, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs),4 chemical
sensors,5 biological probes,6 mechanofluorochromic materials,7 and
so forth. In order to obtain robust TPE-based materials for desired
applications, introduction of specific functional groups on TPF
good electron transport capacity owing to the empty pz orbital on
boron atom,8 thereby enabling us to attain unique optoelectronic
properties of the materials. The modification of TPE with
dimesitylboryl groups can improve the electron transport of the
materials without causing decrease in emission efficiency.9
However, the thermal stability of the generated materials usually
declines due to the inferior thermal stability of dimesitylboryl
moiety. According to the literatures,10 the attachment of bulky
a.Center for Aggregation-Induced Emission, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent
Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640,
China. Email: mszjzhao@scut.edu.cn; wangzhiming@scut.edu.cn
b.Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, South University of Science
and Technology of China, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
c. Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering
Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, The Hong Kong
University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
Email: tangbenz@ust.hk.
† Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) available: materials and instruments,
device fabrication, and NMR spectra. See DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x
Scheme 1. Molecular structure and synthesis of TPE-FB.
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aromatic rings to boron center can stabilize molecular structure and
thus improve thermal stability. Therefore, in this work, we
introduced bulky fluorene as
a bridge between TPE and
dimesitylboryl moiety, and developed a new blue emitter (TPE-FB,
Scheme 1). It has improved thermal stability and splendid AIE
property, and exhibits interesting multiple functions of
mechanochromism, fluoride ion response and electroluminescence.
Results and discussion
Synthesis
Scheme 1 illustrates the molecular structure and synthetic route of
TPE-FB. The intermediates (7-bromo-9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluoren-2-
yl)dimesitylborane (3),10c
(7-(dimesitylboryl)-9,9-dimethyl-9H-
fluoren-2-yl)boronic acid (4)10c and (2-(4-bromophenyl)ethene-
1,1,2-triyl)tribenzene (5)11 were prepared according to the synthetic
methods reported in the literature. (9,9-Dimethyl-7-(4-(1,2,2-
triphenylvinyl)phenyl)-9H-fluoren-2-yl)dimesitylborane
(TPE-FB)
was synthesized as follows: 4 (1.25 g，2.4 mmol), 5 (0.73 g，2.0
mmol), Pd(PPh3)4 (70 mg，0.06 mmol) and Na2CO3 (0.64 g, 6.0
mmol) were added into a 250 mL two-necked bottle with a mixtures
of THF (80 mL) and deionized water (20 mL). The reaction mixture
was heated to reflux under nitrogen atmosphere for 12 h. Then, the
mixture was cooled down to room temperature, poured into water
and extracted with dichloromethane by three times. The combined
organic layers were washed with brine and water, and then dried
over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. Finally, after filtration and
solvent evaporation, the crude product was purified by silica-gel
column chromatography using petroleum ether/dichloromethane
as elute to give white powder of target product TPE-FB (0.89 g, yield
Fig. 1 (A) Absorption (in THF, 10 μM) and (B) PL spectra (in film) of
TPE-FB. (C) PL spectra of TPE-FB in THF/water mixtures with
different water fractions (fw). (D) Plot of (I/I0 − 1) values versus
water fractions in THF/water mixtures of TPE-FB. I0 is the PL
intensity in pure THF.
seen that when fw is less than 60%, the PL intensity of TPE-FB
remains low and changes little. When fw exceeds 70%, the PL
intensity increases swiftly at 481 nm. Since TPE-FB is insoluble in
water, its molecules tend to aggregate at a high fw. Therefore, the
increased emission of TPE-FB is attributed to the aggregate
formation, demonstrating TPE-BF is AIE-active indeed. In the
aggregated state, the intramolecular rotation is suppressed, and
thus the nonradiative relaxation of excited state is blocked.
Consequently, the excited state energy can be released efficiently
as photons.2b, 2c
1
58%). H NMR (500 MHz, CD2Cl2), δ (ppm): 7.73 (d, J = 8.0 Hz, 1H),
7.69 (dd, J = 8.0, 0.5 Hz, 1H), 7.61 (s, 1H), 7.47 (dd, J = 7.5, 1.0 Hz,
1H), 7.40‒7.36 (m, 2H), 7.29 (dd, J = 8.0, 1.5 Hz, 1H), 7.25‒7.20 (m,
4H), 7.16‒7.09 (m, 11H), 7.07‒7.05 (m, 2H), 7.00‒6.97 (m, 1H), 6.84
(s, 4H), 2.31 (s, 6H), 2.01 (s, 12H), 1.42 (s, 6H). 13C NMR (125 MHz,
CDCl3), δ (ppm): 155.85, 153.75, 144.55, 144.34, 144.14, 143.97,
143.12, 141.79, 141.45, 141.36, 141.21, 140.90, 138.92, 138.25,
136.61, 131.70, 131.68, 131.57, 131.24, 131.14, 130.46, 128.60,
128.53, 128.32, 128.10, 128.07, 127.05, 126.91, 126.85, 126.45,
125.58, 121.94, 121.16, 119.87, 47.15, 27.08, 23.68, 21.35. HRMS
(C59H53B): m/z 772.4269 [M+, calcd 772.4240].
In addition, the time-resolved fluorescence spectra of TPE-FB in
THF solution and vacuum deposited neat film were measured (Fig.
2) to deeply understand the PL property. The nonradiative and
radiative decay rates were calculated from the curves (Table 1). The
Optical properties
To estimate the optical property of TPE-FB, its UV-visible absorption
and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were measured. As displayed
in Fig. 1A, TPE-FB exhibits an absorption maximum at 368 nm in THF
solution (10 μM). Similar to most TPE derivatives, TPE-FB is almost
non-fluorescent in THF solution with a very low fluorescence
quantum yield (ΦF) of merely 1%, indicating that it is a very weak
emitter in the solution state. However, TPE-FB shows strong PL in
the aggregated state. The vacuum-deposited solid film emits strong
PL at 481 nm (Fig. 1B), with a high ΦF of 64%. Compared with that in
THF solution, the ΦF of the solid film has increased by 61-fold,
indicating that TPE-FB is of good AIE property.
To further confirm the AIE feature of TPE-FB, its emission
behaviors in THF/water mixtures are investigated. Fig. 2B shows the
PL spectra of TPE-FB at different water fractions (fw, vol%). It can be
Fig. 2 Fluorescence decay profiles of TPE-FB in THF and in neat film
.
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100
80
60
40
20
0
A
B
Td=354o
C
Tg = 121 oC
Fig. 4 B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculated molecular orbital amplitude plots
of HOMO and LUMO of TPE-FB.
100 200 300 400 500 600 700
50
80
110
140
170
200
Temperature (oC)
Temperature (oC)
Fig. 3 (A) TGA and (B) DSC curves of TPE-FB, recorded under
nitrogen at a heating rate of 10 oC min‒1
moiety. Such kind of the orbital distribution suggests the TPE-FB
may undergo charge transfer (CT) progress in high polar conditions.
.
Electrochemical properties
fluorescence lifetime of TPE-FB in THF solution is 0.8 ns, while that
in film is increased to 2.7 ns. For TPE-FB in THF solution, the
nonradiative decay rate (knr) is calculated as 1.193 × 109 s‒1, which is
significantly larger than the radiative decay rate (kr = 1.2 × 107 s‒1).
However, in film, the knr drops sharply to 1.33 × 108 s‒1, while kr
rises to 2.37 × 108 s‒1. Such result is perfectly consistent with the PL
efficiencies observed in solution and in film, which verifies the AIE
mechanism.
To evaluate the practical energy levels of LUMO and HOMO, the
electrochemical behavior of TPE-FB was studied by cyclic
voltammetry (CV). From the cyclic voltammogram displayed in Fig.
5, the initial oxidation potential (Eox) of TPE-FB is found at 1.19 V,
and the Eox of Fc/Fc+ is 0.39
V in the same experimental
environment. Assume that the absolute energy level of Fc/Fc+ is
4.41 eV below the vacuum. The HOMO energy level of TPE-FB can
be obtained by the equation HOMO = ‒(Eox + 4.41) (eV). The LUMO
energy level can be calculated from the equation LUMO = HOMO +
Eg (eV), in which Eg is the optical band gap, determined from the
absorption threshold. Since the optical band gap Eg is 3.08 eV, the
calculated HOMO and LUMO energy levels are ‒5.62 and ‒2.54 eV,
Thermal properties
The thermal stability of TPE-FB was tested by thermogravimetric
o
1
analysis (TGA) under nitrogen at a heating rate of 10 C min‒ (Fig.
3). The results show that TPE-FB is thermally stable with a
decomposition temperature of 354 oC, according to 5% lose of its
initial weight, which gets a great improvement compared with
those of previously reported dimesitylboryl-functionalized TPE
derivatives9, like mono- and bis-dimesitylboryl-functionalized TPE
derivatives (307 oC9a and 255 oC,9c respectively). TPE-FB is also
morphologically stable as evidenced by a high glass-transition
temperature of 121 oC, measured by differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC).
Electronic structures
The electronic structure of TPE-FB was calculated by DFT method.
Fig.
4 gives the optimized geometry, and highest occupied
molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular
orbital (LUMO) of TPE-FB. It can be seen that TPE-FB adopts a
twisted conformation, which can prevent the close π‒π stacking of
the molecules in the aggregated state. The electron cloud of HOMO
is mainly concentrated on the TPE and fluorene fragments, while
that of LUMO is controlled by dimesitylboryl and fluorene moieties.
The HOMO and LUMO of TPE-FB are overlapped on fluorene
0.2
0.6
1.0
1.4
1.8
Potential (V)
Fig.
5
Cyclic voltammogram of TPE-FB, measured in
tetra-n-butylammonium
dichloromethane containing 0.1
M
hexafluorophosphate. Scan rate: 50 mV s.
Table 1 Optical, electronic and thermal properties of TPE-FB.
λem (nm)
ФFb (%)
THF Filma
τ (ns) [krc (107 s−1), knrd (107 s−1)]
Tg/Td (oC)
HOMO/LUMOe
(eV)
Compound
TPE-FB
Eg (eV)
THF
409
Filma
THF
Filma
481
1
64
0.8 [1.2, 119.3]
2.7 [23.7, 13.3]
121/354
−5.62/−2.54
3.08
d
a solid neat film. b absolute fluorescence quantum yield determined by a calibrated integrating sphere. c radiative decay rate, kr = ΦF/τ.
nonradiative decay rate, knr = (1 − ΦF)/τ. e determined by cyclic voltammetry.
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10−3
M)
n
-Bu4NF( M)
10-2
n
-Bu4NF
(
n-Bu4NF/ 10-4
M
TPE-FB/10−5
TPE-FB/10−4
M
M
C
A
B
n
-Bu4NF/10-3
M
1
2
0
1
10
4
100
1000
6
8
10
400
450
500
550
600
650
250
300
350
400
450
500
250
300
350
400
450
500
Wavelength (nm)
Wavelength (nm)
Wavelength (nm)
Fig. 6 (A) and (B) UV absorption spectral changes of TPE-FB in THF solution upon addition of TBAF. (C) PL spectra of TPE-FB in THF solution
upon addition of TBAF.
respectively.
with THF for 15 min, the fluorescence changes back to initial blue.
Similarly, heating ground powder at 120 oC for 15 min in air can also
restore the fluorescence to blue (Fig. 7A). The fluorescence
switching between blue and sky-blue is reversible by alternating
these procedures. In order to explore the mechanism of the
mechanochromism, the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was
carried out on TPE-FB at different states. The results show that as-
prepared powder of TPE-FB has a good crystallinity before force
stimulation, as indicated by the clear and sharp diffraction peaks.
Upon grinding, the powder becomes amorphous in nature and the
spectrum now exhibits a broad band without sharp diffraction
peaks, suggesting the force stimulus has damaged regular
molecular packing. After the stimulation of the sky-blue fluorescent
powder by solvent fuming or direct heating, the fluorescence color
Colorimetric fluoride ion sensing
Due to the presence of dimesitylboryl group, it is envisioned that
TPE-FB has complexation ability with fluorine ion. The absorption
spectra of TPE-FB in THF solution with the addition of fluorine ion
were measured. As shown in Fig. 6, the absorption peak is
blueshifted by ~20 nm when the fluorine ion concentration is above
10‒2 M. In order to further investigate the complexation ability of
TPE-FB with fluorine ion, we shortened the concentration range for
titration. The concentration of TPE-FB was controlled at 10‒5 M, and
a 1 : 1 volume TBAF (tetrabutylammonium fluoride) solution of THF
was added to the THF solution of TPE-FB. With the increase of TBAF
concentration, the original absorption peak at 368 nm disappears
and a new absorption peak at 352 nm appears. From the figure we
can see that the movement of the absorption band occurs between
the fluoride concentration of 2 × 10‒3 and 4 × 10‒3 M. The efficient
response of TPE-BF towards fluoride ion indicates that the molecule
has the potential to detect fluoride ions. We also used PL spectra to
investigate the effect of fluoride ion on the emission property of
TPE-FB. It can be seen from the figure that the fluorescence
intensity of TPE-FB decreases almost linearly with the increase of
fluoride ion concentration. This is because the fluoride ion which
contains a lone pair can interact with the empty pz orbital of boron
atom to form a structure of coordination complex. As the fluoride
ion concentration grows, the PL intensity decreases, probably owing
to the photon-induced electron transfer (PET).12 The blue shift in
absorption spectrum is attributed to the decreased conjugation of
the molecule because the interaction between fluoride ion and
boron atom will undermine the p-π conjugation of dimesitylboryl
group and decrease the conjugation of the molecule.
Grinding
A
B
THF fuming
Heating
Before Grinding
After Grinding
TPE-FB powder
400
460
520
580
640
5
15
25
θ/(O)
35
45
Wavelength (nm)
2
C
Fig. 7 (A) Normalized PL spectra of powders of TPE-FB powder
by grinding-fuming and grinding-heating processes. (B) XRD
patterns of TPE-FB before and after grinding. (C) Fluorescence
images of TPE-FB powders after different stimulations.
Mechanochromism
The as-prepared powder of TPE-FB from column chromatography
emits blue fluorescence at 454 nm. After grinding, the powder
emits sky-blue fluorescence at 481 nm, demonstrating a property of
mechanochromic fluorescence. When the ground powder is fumed
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600
400
200
104
Device I
Device II
Device I
Device II
A
B
103
102
101
100
0
3
380
460
540
620
700
3
6
9
12
15
18
Wavelength (nm)
Voltage (V)
6
Device I
Device II
Device I
Device II
Fig. 9 Energy level diagrams of OLEDs devices based on TPE-FB.
C
D
4
2
0
2
1
0
maximum current efficiency (ηC,max), power efficiency (ηP,max) and
external quantum efficiency (ηext,max) attained by the device are
1
1
4.04 cd A‒ , 2.87 lm W‒ and 1.78%, respectively. The LUMO energy
level of TPE-FB is close to that of TPBI (−2.7 eV) (Fig. 9), but the
HOMO energy level of TPE-FB is much lower than that of NPB (−5.3
eV),9b,14 which indicates that the electron injection is easier than
hole injection to TPE-FB. This may cause unbalanced carriers in
emissive TPE-FB layer, and thus account for relatively low
efficiencies of the device. Considering that the dimesitylborane
group has excellent electron transport ability, non-doped double-
layer OLED using TPE-FB as both light-emitting and electron-
transporting layers was fabricated. The configuration of device II is
ITO/NPB (60 nm)/TPE-FB (60 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al. The device is
turned on at 5.8 V and emits at 500 nm. Compare to device I, the EL
performance of device II is only slightly decreased. The maximum
brightness is 2781 cd m‒2, and the ηC,max, ηP,max and ηext,max are 3.56
1
10
100
1000
1
10
100
1000
Luminance (cd m−2
)
Luminance (cd m−2
)
Fig. 8 (A) EL spectra, (B) current density−voltage−luminance
characteristics, and (C) dependence of current efficiency and (D)
external quantum efficiency on the luminance of nondoped
OLEDs based on TPE-FB. Configuration: ITO/NPB (60 nm)/TPE-
FB (20 nm)/TPBi (40 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (Device I); ITO/NPB (60
nm)/TPE-FB (60 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (Device II).
returns to the initial blue, indicating that the powder has been
changed from the amorphous state to the crystalline state. In a
word, the mechanochromism of TPE-FB is ascribed to the changes
in morphology of the aggregate.7,13
1
1
cd A‒ , 1.91 lm W‒ and 1.49%, respectively. The results imply the
good potential of TPE-FB as light emitter and electron transporter
via rational molecular engineering.
Electroluminescence
Conclusions
Inspired by the high solid-state fluorescence efficiency and good
thermal stability of TPE-FB, we investigated its electroluminescence
(EL) property in nondoped OLEDs. The configuration of device I is
ITO/NPB (60 nm)/TPE-FB (20 nm)/TPBi (40 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al, in
which NPB (4,4’-bis[(1-naphthyl) (phenyl)amino]biphenyl) works as
hole-transporting layer, TPBi (1,3,5-tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazol-
2-yl)benzene) acts as electron-transporting layer and TPE-FB serves
as light-emitting layer. The device character curves are shown in Fig.
8, and the key data are summarized in Table 2. The device I shows a
turn-on voltage of 4.3 V, and maximum brightness of 8707 cd m‒2. It
emits sky-blue light at 494 nm, which is shifted by 13 nm from the
PL peak in the film, probably owing to the microcavity effect. The
A blue emissive TPE derivative, TPE-FB, containing dimesitylboryl
and fluorene groups is synthesized and thoroughly characterized.
TPE-FB has good thermal stability with high Tg and Td of 121 and
354 oC, respectively, and exhibits good AIE characteristic, with a
high ФF of 64% in solid film. It can interact with fluorine ion to
provide distinct changes in absorption and emission spectra.
Apparent mechanochromic property is also observed for the solid
of TPE-FB, whose fluorescence color can be reversibly switched
between blue and sky-blue by alternate grinding and heating (or
fuming). TPE-FB can function as light-emitting material for
nondoped OLEDs, offering good EL efficiency of 4.04 cd A‒1. The
Table 2. Performance of OLEDs based on TPE-FB.
2 a
)
1 a
)
1 a
)
λEL (nm)
Von (V)b
Lmax (cd m‒
ηC,max (cd A‒
ηP, max (lm W‒
EQE (%)a
CIE (x, y) c
I
494
502
4.3
5.8
8707
2781
4.04
3.56
2.87
1.91
1.78
1.49
(0.199, 0.319)
(0.225, 0.358)
II
a The luminescence (L), current efficiency (ηc ), power efficiency (ηP ) and external quantum efficiency are the maximum values of the
devices. b Von is the turn-on voltage at 1 cd m‒ c CIE coordinates at 1000 cd m‒
. .
2
2
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multiple functionalities allow TPE-FB to find an array of high-tech 7. (a) Z. Chi, X. Zhang, B. Xu, X. Zhou, C. Ma, Y. Zhang, S. Liu and J.
applications.
Xu, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 3878; (b) Y. Q. Dong, J. W. Y. Lam
and B. Z. Tang, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2015, 6, 3429; (c) A. Ekbote,
T. Jadhav and R. Misra, New J. Chem., 2017, 41, 9346.
Conflicts of interest
8. (a) C. D. Entwistle and T. B. Marder, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,
2002, 41, 2927; (b) C. D. Entwistle and T. B. Marder, Chem.
Mater., 2004, 16, 4574; (c) T. S. Reddy, R. Maragani and R.
Misra, Dalton Trans., 2016, 45, 2549; (d) R. Misra, T. Jadhav, B.
Dhokale and S. M. Mobin, Dalton Trans., 2015, 44, 16052.
9. (a) W. Z. Yuan, S. Chen, J. W. Y. Lam, C. Deng, P. Lu, H. H. Sung, I.
D. Williams, H. S. Kwok, Y. Zhang and B. Z. Tang, Chem.
Commun., 2011, 47, 11216; (b) L. Chen, Y. Jiang, H. Nie, P. Lu, H.
H. Y. Sung, I. D. Williams, H. S. Kwok, F. Huang, A. Qin, Z. Zhao,
and B. Z. Tang, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2014, 24, 3621; (c) L. Chen, C.
Zhang, G. Lin, H. Nie, W. Luo, Z. Zhuang, S. Ding, R. Hu, S. -J. Su,
F. Huang, A. Qin, Z. Zhao and B. Z. Tang, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016,
4, 2775. (d) L. Chen, G. Lin, H. Peng, H. Nie, Z. Zhuang, P. Shen, S.
Ding, D. Huang, R. Hu, S. Chen, F. Huang, A. Qin, Z. Zhao and B. Z.
Tang, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 5241.
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (21788102, 21673082), the
Nation Key Basic Research and Development Program of China
(973 program, 2015CB655004) Founded by MOST, the
Guangdong Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young
Scholar (2014A030306035), the Science and Technology
Project of Guangdong Province (2016B090907001), the
Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong (ITC-
CNERC14SC01) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities (2017ZD001).
10. (a) Y. Liu, Y. Lv, H. Xi, X. Zhang, S. Chen, J. W. Y. Lam, R. T. K.
Kwok, F. Mahtab, H. S. Kwok, X. Tao and B. Z. Tang, Chem.
Commun., 2013, 49, 7216. (b) X. Xu, S. Ye, B. He, B. Chen, J.
Xiang, J. Zhou, P. Lu, Z. Zhao and H. Qiu, Dyes Pigm., 2014, 101,
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Huang, A. Qin, Z. Zhao and B. Z. Tang, Mater. Chem. Front., 2017,
1, 176.
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New Journal of Chemistry
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DOI: 10.1039/C7NJ04742H
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