Two supramolecular ionic nanomaterials (SINs) were successfully
prepared by multidentate imidazolium organic salts and multidentate
acid via ionic self-assembly (ISA), which is formed by tetraphenylethylene
(TPE)-based organic salts (TPE-COS and TPE-C16OS) and 4,4′,4″,4‴-(ethene-1,1,2,2-tetrayl)tetrabenzenesulfonic
acid (TPE-SO3H) in MeOH. These SINs exhibited high thermal
stability and are insoluble in solvents. Furthermore, as fluorescence
sensors, they showed high sensitivity and selectivity in the detection
of nitroaromatic explosives, especially for trinitrophenol (TNP);
the linear range of SIN-1 and SIN-2 was 0.4–128 μM and
1–128 μM; their λex was set as 340 and 350 nm;
λem was 489 and 458 nm; and the related limit of detection was
0.87 and 0.42 μM, respectively. The quenching mechanism of TNP
for SINs is the synergistic effect of the energy transfer, the inner
filter, and photoelectron transfer.