For practical applications of carbon dots (CDs), a major challenge is to prevent the notorious aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect. Herein, a new type of CDs (CD1) has been developed that can transform from ACQ to an enhancement of fluorescence by aggregation-induced emission (AIE). The blue fluorescence of the CDs is suppressed by ACQ. However, this is accompanied by the phenomenon of AIE at a longer wavelength, resulting in the emergence and gradual enhancement of yellow fluorescence. The obtained CD1 solid powder shows a bright yellow emission with a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 65%. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra, absorption spectra, and time-resolved PL decay curves indicate that Förster resonant energy transfer from dispersed CD1 particles to large CD1 agglomerations leads to the enhancement of yellow fluorescence. To exploit its high PLQY and strong AIE, CD1 is applied as a color-converting layer on blue light-emitting diode (LED) chips to fabricate white LEDs (WLEDs). The obtained devices show white light coordinates of (0.29, 0.38) and (0.32, 0.42), which are close to pure white light (0.33, 0.33), and luminous efficiencies of 97.8 and 93.9 lm·W–1 and show good stability. The low cost, easy fabrication, controllability, and favorable fluorescence properties signify that CD1 of AIE will have superior performance in a variety of applications.

Methylammonium (MA) lead halide (MAPbX, X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) are very sensitive to environment (moisture, oxygen, and temperature), suffering from poor stability. To improve the stability, we synthesized silica-coated PQDs (SPQDs) by an improved ligand-assisted reprecipitation method through simply mixing and stirring under room temperature in air without adding water and catalyst, the whole process took only a few seconds. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the SPQDs can be tuned continuously from 460 to 662 nm via adjusting the composition proportion of precursors. The highest PL quantum yields (PLQYs) of blue-, green-, and red-emissive SPQDs are 56, 95, and 70%, respectively. The SPQDs show remarkably improved environmental and thermal stability compared to the naked PQDs because of effective barrier created by the coated silica between the core materials and the ambience. Furthermore, it is found that different light-emitting SPQDs can maintain their original PL properties after mixing of them and anion-exchange reactions have not happened. These attributes were then used to mix green- and yellow-emissive SPQDs with polystyrene (PS) to form color-converting layers for the fabrication of white light-emitting devices (WLEDs). The WLEDs exhibit excellent white light characteristics with CIE 1931 color coordinates of (0.31, 0.34) and color rendering index (CRI) of 85, demonstrating promising applications of SPQDs in lighting and displays.

A rotating phenyl ring is introduced between the two pyridinium rings, namely, 1,1′‐bis[3‐(trimethylamonium)propyl]‐4,4′‐(1,4‐phenylene)bispyridinium tetrachloride ((APBPy)Cl4), to form a switchable conjugation. In this design, the conjugation is switched “off” in the oxidized state and the two pyridinium rings behave independently during the redox process, yielding a concomitant transfer of two electrons at the same potential and, thus, simplifying the battery management. The conjugation is switched “on” in the reduced state and the charge can be effectively delocalized, lowering the Lewis basicity and improving its chemical stability. By pairing 0.50 m (APBPy)Cl4 with a 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidin‐1‐yl oxyl derivative as the positive electrolyte, a flow battery delivers a high standard cell voltage of 1.730 V and a high specific capacity of 20.0 Ah L–1. The battery also shows an exceptionally high energy efficiency of 80.8% and a superior cycling stability at 80 mA cm–2. This strategy proves itself a great success in engineering viologen as a two‐electron storage mediator with high capacity and stability.

Carbon dots (CDs) that exhibit emission over the whole visible spectrum are desired for use in light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Here, CDs displaying tunable fluorescence over the whole visible region are synthesized. Different concentrations of CDs are uniformly dispersed in epoxy resin and coated on 405 nm LED chips to obtain monochrome blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, and deep red LEDs that yield a color gamut covering 99.4% of the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) standard. These monochrome LEDs display similar high stability. Furthermore, warm and neutral white LEDs are produced by coating cyan- and red-emitting CD layers on 405 nm LED chips, achieving color-rendering indexes (CRIs) of 96.4 and 96.6, respectively. Two fluorescent conversion layers derived from one material at different concentrations simplify the preparation of high-CRI white LEDs. The uniform weak changes of the cyan and red photoluminescence peaks during operation ensure the high stability of these CD-based white LEDs. This research provides a new avenue to develop low-cost, easy-to-prepare CDs with tunable emission colors as alternative phosphors for LED-based high-performance displays and lighting.

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