Affiliation:
1. School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry Institute of Fine Chemicals Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry East China University of Science & Technology Shanghai China
Abstract
AbstractIcing detection is critically important for preventing safety accidents and economic losses, especially concerning ice formation from invalidated anti‐icing fluids (water and ethylene glycol) under extreme conditions. Traditional technologies like ultrasonics and capacitor‐antenna face challenges with limited detection areas, lower accuracy, and susceptibility to electromagnetic interference. Here, we introduce a novel viscosity‐ultrasensitive fluorescent probe 4′,4‴‐(2,2‐diphenylethene‐1,1‐diyl) bis‐(3,5‐dicarboxylate) (TPE‐2B4C) based on AIEgens for monitoring ice formation of anti‐icing fluids in low‐temperature environments. TPE‐2B4C, consisting of four sodium carboxylate groups and multiple freely rotating benzene rings, demonstrates outstanding solubility in anti‐icing fluids and exhibits no fluorescent background signal even at low temperatures (<−20°C). Upon freezing, TPE‐2B4C relocates from the water phase to higher viscosity ethylene glycol, causing restriction of benzene rings and a significantly increased green fluorescence signal. TPE‐2B4C can successfully determine whether the anti‐icing fluids are icing from −5 to −20°C with a high contrast ratio. Due to its simple setup, fast operation, and broad applicability, our new method is anticipated to be employed for rapid, real‐time, and large‐scale icing detection.