4105www.MaterialsViews.com wileyonlinelibrary.com even plants cannot use UV wavelengths for photosynthesis), [ 2 ] but also strong UV light causes the solar cell to gradually deteriorate; one reasonable solution in overcoming this challenge is to pursue spectral conversion from the visible bands rather than direct UV conversion. Spectral conversion technology is the best-known candidate for this task. Therefore, several types of spectral conversion materials have been developed, which contain various fl uorescent materials, including monomeric and polymeric dyes, [ 3 ] organometallic complexes, [ 4 ] and quantum dots.[ 5 ] However, spectral conversion fi lms (SCFs) still have several disadvantages, such as low conversion effi ciency, high fabrication cost, and poor durability.Herein, we propose a new strategy for spectral conversion through effi cient energy transfer in a phase-separated nanosized functional domain. Our approach can be defi ned as utilization of a highly oriented nano-sized phase separation in a polymer matrix using a low-molecular gelation technique. [ 6 ] The nano-sized domain is induced by using self-assembling of organogelators as monomer components that can form one-dimensional fi ber-like aggregates through intermolecular hydrogen bonding in a polymer matrix ( Figure 1 ). [ 7 ] This method has several advantages in the fabrication of SCF materials: 1) the produced polymer fi lm is transparent because our method does not generate macro-scale domains in the fi lm, which cause light scattering, but instead forms nanofi brillar aggregates; 2) self-assembling phase separation is accompanied by molecular concentration and fl uorescent group orientation, which promotes excimer formation and fl uorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) processes; 3) tunability of the fl uorescent spectral band can be accomplished by a sol-to-gel transition.We chose the L -glutamide derivative [ 8 ] for the purposes of fabricating this system, as such species have good dispersity in a variety of solvents, suffi cient miscibility with polymeric materials, [ 9 ] and considerably low critical aggregation concentrations. Furthermore, their gelation properties and fl uorescence behaviors in organic media have been extensively investigated by doping L -glutamide derivatives with fl uorescent groups such as pyrene, [ 10 ] thiophene, [ 11 ] and porphyrin. [ 12 ] In this study, we have prepared the L -glutamide-functionalized pyrene ( g -Pyr ) for use as the low-molecular-weight organogelator and fl uorescent dyes (Coumarin 6, Rubrene and Nile red) as the energy acceptor for FRET.
Molecular Gelation-Induced Functional Phase Separation in Polymer Film for Energy Transfer Spectral ConversionHirokuni Jintoku , Miho Yamaguchi , Makoto Takafuji , and Hirotaka Ihara * A new strategy for creating the energy transfer spectral conversion thin fi lm by using fl uorophore-functionalized molecular gelation is proposed. This is based on the facts that nanofi brillar phase separation of the self-assembling pyrene derivative as a ...