Aggregation-Induced Fluorescence Enhancement for Efficient X-ray Imaging Scintillators and High-Speed Optical Wireless Communication

Abstract

Aggregation of some chromophores generates very strong fluorescence signals due to the tight molecular packing and highly restricted vibrational motions in the electronically excited states. Such an aggregation-induced emission enhancement enables great strides in biomedical imaging, security screening, sensing, and light communication applications. Here, we realized efficient utilization of a series of aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) in X-ray imaging scintillators and optical wireless communication (OWC) technology. Ultrafast time-resolved laser spectroscopic experiments and high-level density functional theory (DFT) calculations clearly demonstrate that a significant increase in the rotational energy barrier in the aggregated state of AIEgens is observed, leading to highly restricted molecular vibrations and suppressed nonradiative processes. AIEgen-based scintillators exhibit a high X-ray imaging resolution of 16.3 lp mm-1, making them excellent candidates for X-ray radiography and security inspections. In addition, these AIEgens show a broad -3-dB modulation bandwidth of ∼110 MHz and high net data rates of ∼600 Mb/s, demonstrating their high potential for application in the field of high-speed OWC.