Ultralong room temperature phosphorescence via the charge transfer-separation-recombination mechanism based on organic small molecule doping strategy

Ultra-long room temperature phosphorescence (URTP) has been increasingly recognized in pure organic luminophor in recent years. Through a simpler molecular design and charge separation-recombination pathway, organic luminophor can achieve even better URTP properties. In this work, we achieved URTP in a system of host-guest doped benzophenone derivatives whose phosphorescence is visible to the naked eye. The differences in the wavelength lifetimes of luminescent emission correspond to different photophysical mechanisms. Through a combination of theoretical calculations and experiments, the host acts as a powerful substrate that restricts the motion of the guest and inhibits the non-radiative transitions of the guest, accompanied by a charge transfer separation-recombination process between the host and the guest, resulting in an URTP phenomenon. Transient absorption results demonstrate the existence of a charge-separated state. The design strategy via charge separation is generic and easy to implement, providing a direction for the future design of doped URTP.