Multicolor room temperature phosphorescence in dibenzothiophene derivative-doped elastic binary polymers for multi-step encryption displays

Polymer-based room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have witnessed notable advancements, owing to their favorable biocompatibility, structural tailorability, and ease of functionalization. However, most of these materials exhibit inherent rigidity and brittleness, which limit their practical applications. Herein, we doped dibenzothiophene derivatives into a binary polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) matrix, successfully endowing a series of films with long-lived multicolor RTP emission (from blue to yellow-green) and robust mechanical properties. Furthermore, we achieved a red afterglow based on the triplet to singlet Förster resonance energy transfer (TS-FRET) strategy by introducing Rhodamine B (RhB) into the TPPTS@PVP@SBR system. Interestingly, these RTP elastomers exhibit stable afterglow emission even when stretched to several times their original length or subjected to multiple stretching cycles, demonstrating great potential for applications in displays, dynamic information anti-counterfeiting, and encryption. This study successfully illustrates a strategy for fabricating long-lived multicolor RTP elastomers through the rational integration of two complementary polymers, thereby offering a feasible approach to enhance the deformability of conventionally rigid RTP polymer systems.