Mechanoluminescence materials with the characteristic of aggregation-induced emission (AIE)

Stimuli-responsive materials have attracted lots of attention due to the immediate transformation of different properties in response to varied external stimulus. In the last several years, pure organic mechanoluminescence (ML) materials are gradually coming into highlight, which has prospects of practical applications in fields such as pressure sensor, display, and new light source. According to the light emission derived from any application of mechanical stress to the crystal or solid state, the aggregationinduced emission (AIE) effect has contributed to the providing of new possibilities for the design of efficient mechanical luminescent materials. The examples of mechanoluminescent AIEgen possessing room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) or both fluorescence and phosphorescence have observed by Li's group could benefit the next studies on ML materials about mechanism and applications. To further explore the relationship between ML activity and solid-state structural requirements, the ML materials with different crystalline polymorphs have been selected, and the results point out that molecular packing plays an important role in intrinsic mechanism of ML materials.