Photon-Upconverting Ionic Liquids: Effective Triplet Energy Migration in Contiguous Ionic Chromophore Arrays.

Inspired by the bicontinuous ionic-network structure of ionic liquids (ILs), we developed a new family of photofunctional ILs which show efficient triplet energy migration among contiguously arrayed ionic chromophores. A novel fluorescent IL, comprising an aromatic 9,10-diphenylanthracene 2-sulfonate anion and an alkylated phosphonium cation, showed pronounced interactions between chromophores, as revealed by its spectral properties. Upon dissolving a triplet sensitizer, the IL demonstrated photon upconversion based on triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA-UC). Interestingly, the TTA-UC process in the chromophoric IL was optimized at a much lower excitation intensity compared to the previous nonionic liquid TTA-UC system. The superior TTA-UC in this IL system is characterized by a relatively high triplet diffusion constant (1.63×10(-6) cm(2) s(-1)) which is ascribed to the presence of ionic chromophore networks in the IL.