Luminous Fish‐Inspired Hydrogels with Underwater Long‐Lived Room Temperature Phosphorescence

Abstract

Some marine animals form long‐lived luminescence for predation, communication, camouflage, and anti‐predation. These marine animals demonstrate soft nature, sustainable glowing, and underwater emission, which are difficult to achieve in synthetic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials. Inspired by these marine animals, here the study reports RTP hydrogels that show long‐lived phosphorescence (lifetime >500 ms and afterglow >10 s) in water. Exceptional underwater mechanical properties are simultaneously achieved, including tensile strength of 5.1 MPa, tensile strain of 452%, and toughness of 19.3 MJ m−3. The key to this achievement lies in the in situ phase separation microarchitecture formed between polyacrylamide (PAM) and its partial hydrolysates, which confines the motions of polymer chains and protects vulnerable triplet excitons from quenching of water. Such a strategy shows the merits of facile fabrication without laborious synthesis. In addition, these RTP hydrogels offer repeatable photoprinting and highly stability in water, providing a versatile platform for underwater applications of RTP materials, including information encryption and camouflage of marine animals.