Tailored Broad-Spectrum Emission in Hybrid Aggregation Induced Emission (AIE)-MOFs: Boosting White Light Efficiency in Electrospun Janus Microfibers

Vishal Kachwal, Samraj Mollick and Jin-Chong Tan

Advanced Functional Materials 2308062 (2023)
Advances in energy-efficient lighting and display technologies demand innovative materials with tailored broad-spectrum emission properties. Hybrid aggregation-induced emission metal-organic frameworks (AIE-MOFs) offer a promising avenue, combining unique characteristics of organic and inorganic components to yield enhanced luminescence efficiency and robust material stability. The study introduces a spectrum of D (donor)-A (acceptor) type AIE-active ligands into MOFs, enabling tunable emission across the visible spectrum, thus underscoring the versatility of these hybridized MOF materials. The emission properties of AIE-MOFs are further harnessed by integrating them into polymer matrices, resulting in high-performance electrospun fibers with tunable emission. A significant achievement involves the fabrication of Janus-type white light-emitting AIE-MOF fiber composites via side-by-side electrospinning, accomplishing a high quantum yield of 58%, which doubled the performance of homogeneous fibers. Complementing the experimental findings, micro-Raman and nano-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are employed as local spectroscopic probes, affording a deeper understanding of the material properties and the mechanisms contributing to enhance light emission. In the understanding, this study presents an unconventional implementation of hybrid AIE-MOFs in Janus-type structures for white light emission. It significantly improves the efficiency of white light sources in optoelectronics, charting a promising direction for future research in the emergent AIE-MOF field.