Rising From the Flatland—A Strategy to Achieve Solid-State Emission and Circularly Polarized Luminescence

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) describes a photophysical phenomenon in which molecular aggregates exhibit stronger emission than single molecules, thus the AIE luminogens (AIEgens) are promising solid-state emitters. One of the common features of AIEgens is the non-planar molecular structure, which prevents severe π-π interactions in the aggregated and solid states. Rising from the flatland is therefore a general strategy to achieve solid-state emission for various high-tech applications. Chirality and circularly polarized luminescence can also be obtained from non-planar structures. In this talk, I will present several works about the precise synthesis, amplified properties, as well as high-tech applications of organic functional materials with non-planar molecular structures.