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.