Smart Luminescent Coordination Polymers toward Multimode Logic Gates: Time-Resolved, Tribochromic and Excitation-Dependent Fluorescence/Phosphorescence Emission.

In this work, we propose that lanthanide cations (such as Eu3+ and Tb3+)-doped long-afterglow coordination polymers (CPs) can be an effective tool for designing multimode optical logic gates based on their tunable fluorescence/phosphorescence transformation and state-dependent emission. First, multicolor and white-light luminescence across the blue/green/yellow/red visible regions can be obtained by balancing the co-doping ratio of Eu3+/Tb3+ cations and suitable excitations. Additionally, a new tribochromic Eu-Cd-CP was developed based on the mechanism of a change in structural symmetry. Benefitting from long-afterglow, tribochromism, and excitation-dependent emission on the same luminescent CP, a new three-input and three-output logic gate was obtained. Therefore, this work not only provides detailed insights into the interesting fields of tribochromism and tunable photoemission, but also confirms that long-afterglow CPs can serve as a new platform for the construction of smart luminescent systems and multimode optical logic gates.