Highly luminescent organic nanorods from air oxidation of para-substituted anilines for freestanding deep-red color filters

Abstract

Oxidation of aniline provides useful organic nanostructures with a wide variety of particle morphologies and properties. Accordingly, in the present study, novel luminescent organic nanorods (ONs) are synthesized through one-step air oxidation of para-substituted anilines without any shape-guiding surfactants. These ONs present highly crystalline rod-like structures due to the ortho-coupling reaction of aniline and pi-pi interactions between the phenazine-like structures. Using photoluminescence spectroscopy, absorption spectroscopy, time-correlated single photon counting, and time-dependent density functional theory calculation, it is revealed that the phenazine-like structures in the ONs are largely responsible for their bright, photostable, deep-red luminescence with absolute quantum efficiency up to 46%. Finally, the potential application of ONs as a freestanding color filter for deep-red-light-emitting devices that could be used for color pixels of future displays is demonstrated. The findings of this study provide a new strategy for the preparation of luminescent organic nanomaterials, and show their potential for optoelectronic applications.