Reverse Thinking of the Aggregation-Induced Emission Principle: Amplifying Molecular Motions to Boost Photothermal Efficiency of Nanofibers*

Haoxuan Li; Haifei Wen; Zhijun Zhang; Nan Song; Ryan T K Kwok; Jacky W Y Lam; Lei Wang; Dong Wang; Ben Zhong Tang

doi:10.1002/anie.202008292

Reverse Thinking of the Aggregation-Induced Emission Principle: Amplifying Molecular Motions to Boost Photothermal Efficiency of Nanofibers*

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Nov 9;59(46):20371-20375. doi: 10.1002/anie.202008292. Epub 2020 Sep 15.

Authors

Haoxuan Li^{1

2

3}, Haifei Wen¹, Zhijun Zhang^{1

2}, Nan Song^{1

2

3}, Ryan T K Kwok³, Jacky W Y Lam³, Lei Wang^{1

2}, Dong Wang¹, Ben Zhong Tang³

Affiliations

¹ Centre for AIE Research, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Material Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518061, P. R. China.
² Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518061, P. R. China.
³ Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, 999077, China.

PMID: 32767633
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202008292

Abstract

Using reverse thinking of the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) principle, we demonstrate an ingenious and universal protocol for amplifying molecular motions to boost photothermal efficiency of fibers. Core-shell nanofibers having the olive oil solution of AIE-active molecules as the core surrounded by PVDF-HFP shell were constructed by coaxial electrospinning. The molecularly dissolved state of AIE-active molecules allows them to freely rotate and/or vibrate in nanofibers upon photoexcitation and thus significantly elevates the proportion of non-radiative energy dissipation, affording impressive heat-generating efficiency. Photothermal evaluation shows that the core-shell nanofibers with excellent durability can reach up to 22.36 % of photothermal conversion efficiency, which is 26-fold as the non-core-shell counterpart. Such a core-shell fiber can be used for photothermal textiles and solar steam generation induced by natural sunlight with green and carbon-zero emission.

Keywords: aggregation-induced emission; core-shell nanofibers; molecular motion; non-radiative decay; solar steam generation.

Abstract

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