AIE gel exhibiting continuous gradient fluorescence based on a polar‐responsive AIE‐gen
Ziqing Hu,
Hanwei Zhang,
Hui Liu,
Jinsa Li,
Xiaofan Ji,
Ben Zhong Tang
Affiliations
Ziqing Hu
Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Hanwei Zhang
Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Hui Liu
Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Jinsa Li
Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Xiaofan Ji
Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Ben Zhong Tang
School of Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Institute of Aggregate Science and Technology The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Guangdong China
Abstract Traditional multicolor fluorescent hydrogels are generated through the assembly of discrete fluorescent hydrogels, which is not a complete integration much distinct from living organisms. On the basis of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE), a special solvent polar‐responsive AIE molecule possessing a twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) effect was noticed. By incorporating it into the gel network, an AIE gel that displays continuous gradient fluorescence was fabricated. First, hydrogel A containing the solvent polar‐responsive AIE‐gen was prepared to show orange fluorescence. After soaking in the organic solvents, the fluorescence color transition of hydrogel A ranging from orange to green occurred when being immersed in high‐polarity organic solvents ascribed to the embedded AIE‐gen owning TICT effect. Then, hydrogel A was successively lifted up from organic solvents. Due to the different immersion time of each section for the hydrogel, the polarity difference occurred. Then, the produced gel B showed continuous gradient fluorescence ranging from orange to green under the irradiation of UV light.
