Large‐Scale Preparation for Multicolor Stimulus‐Responsive Room‐Temperature Phosphorescence Paper via Cellulose Heterogeneous Reaction

Abstract

AbstractThe large‐scale preparation of sustainable room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials, particularly those with stimulus‐response properties, is attractive but remains challenging. This study develops a facile heterogeneous B─O covalent bonding strategy to anchor arylboronic acid chromophores to cellulose chains using pure water as a solvent, resulting in multicolor RTP cellulose. The rigid environment provided by the B─O covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds promotes the triplet population and suppresses quenching, leading to an excellent lifetime of 1.42 s for the target RTP cellulose. By increasing the degree of chromophore conjugation, the afterglow colors can be tuned from blue to green and then to red. Motivated by this finding, a papermaking production line is built to convert paper pulp reacted with an arylboronic acid additive into multicolor RTP paper on a large scale. Furthermore, the RTP paper is sensitive to water because of the destruction of hydrogen bonds, and the stimuli‐response can be repeated in response to water/heat stimuli. The RTP paper can be folded into 3D afterglow origami handicrafts and anti‐counterfeiting packing boxes or used for stimulus‐responsive information encryption. This success paves the way for the development of large‐scale, eco‐friendly, and practical stimuli‐responsive RTP materials.