Stretchable and Flexible Room-Temperature Phosphorescence Copolymers Based on Microphase Separation

Polymer-based room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials are of rapidly growing interest in organic photoelectronics. However, traditional RTP polymers exhibit poor stretchability due to the limitations of typical design rules. Solving the conflict between RTP performance and stretchability and achieving a stretchable RTP polymer is a great challenge. Herein, we develop a feasible strategy for achieving stretchable RTP materials by designing block copolymers and self-assembling them into microphase separation structures. The hard dispersed phases of the copolymer ensure RTP performance, while the continued soft phases determine their stretchability. Impressively, the resulting copolymers exhibit a maximum stretchability of up to 667% and a phosphorescence lifetime of 728 ms. We also developed stretchable circularly polarized organic phosphorescence materials based on this strategy. Given the material's flexibility and long-lived emission, potential applications in anticounterfeiting and flexible displays were also demonstrated. This work improves the mechanical performance of RTP polymers and paves the way to design flexible multifunctional materials for advanced applications.