Self-healing metallo-supramolecular polymers showing luminescence off/on switching based on lanthanide ions and terpyridine moieties

Multi-color luminescence stimulus-responsive materials based on lanthanide (Ln3+) complexes have attracted increasing interest because of their considerable potential applications in various fields. However, enabling materials with rapidly stimulus-responsive property remains a challenge. Herein, luminescent elastomers were prepared via the coordination of Ln3+ ions to nitrogen atoms from terpyridine moieties tethered to the polymer chains composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) segments. The emitting color of the luminescent elastomers can be simply modulated by changing the excitation wavelengths and altering the Eu3+/Tb3+ molar ratio. The break/recovery of “antenna effect” between Ln3+ and Terpyridyl upon acid-base vapor endow the materials with fast luminescence off/on switching ability. Furthermore, the luminescent elastomers display fast self-healing capability at room temperature due to the attendance of the dynamic Ln-ligand coordination and sufficient mobility of the flexible polymer chains. This work opens up new possibilities for future information encryption to carry more codes by combining the multi-color ability as well as luminescence off/on switching property, and showing the potential application as a powerful tool in the base-acid detector fields.