Intrinsic Narrowband Organic Afterglow

Narrowband organic afterglow materials show application in multiplexed bioimaging and others. However, materials featuring an intrinsic narrowband afterglow with an emission lifetime >100 ms remain elusive. We report a serendipitous finding of a chemical reaction from aromatic amine to luminescent acridone. Interestingly, upon doping into a suitable matrix, luminescent acridone molecules display a narrowband deep-blue afterglow with full widths at half-maximum 100 ms, which are further fashioned into an aqueous system exhibiting high color purity, visible-light-excitable property, and potential bioapplication.