New Research Unit Funded by DFG To Develop Smart Luminescent Materials

Photonic technologies have become an indispensable part of our everyday lives: They are used in OLED displays, laser systems and optical data transmission. However, to pave the way for the next generation of intelligent applications — for example in high-resolution sensors, quantum communication or drug and food testing—we need new types of materials that respond to a given physical stimulus such as pressure or electric fields. “While chemically controlled luminescence, for example the light emitted by a substance that is triggered by a change in pH value, has been studied and used for a long time, research into physically switchable light emissions is still in its infancy,” says Professor Andreas Steffen.

This is the starting point for the new Research Unit called STIL-COCOs. The acronym stands for STImulus-responsive Luminescent COordination COmpounds. The researchers are looking at small, easy-to-handle molecules that change their luminescent properties when exposed to physical stimuli. Here, the focus is on coordination compounds containing metals whose three-dimensional structure can be adjusted selectively. The interdisciplinary team will examine how pressure, shearing forces as well as magnetic and electric fields influence the color, intensity or duration of the light emitted by the molecules. The aim is to develop clear design strategies for their application in key photonic technologies.

Scientists from seven universities work together

“Only by closely dovetailing many different disciplines and methods can we fully unravel the connection between the molecular structure and the photonic behavior of innovative luminescent materials,” says Professor Steffen. Apart from TU Dortmund University, the scientists involved in the project come from the universities of Münster, Bonn, Frankfurt, Paderborn, Mainz and from RWTH Aachen University. Among them are experts in theory, synthetic chemistry and spectroscopy. The project also has access to major research institutions such as the DESY Research Center in Hamburg. The Research Unit’s co-spokesperson is Professor Katja Heinze from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).

Alongside Professor Andreas Steffen’s working group, Professor Sebastian Henke’s team at TU Dortmund University is also participating in the project. Its role is to investigate what are known as “responsive scaffold compounds” — porous materials that change their structure when stimulated and can exhibit new luminescent effects in the process. At the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, the teams have extensive facilities for synthesizing such materials as well as special measuring apparatuses at their disposal that allow them to study luminescence over a broad temperature range — from room temperature to conditions almost like in space (4 Kelvin or about -270 °C). Unlike anywhere else nationwide, in Dortmund the research teams can also conduct these measurements under high-pressure conditions.

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