Naphthalene diimide based near-infrared luminogens with aggregation-induced emission characteristics for biological imaging and high mobility ambipolar transistors

Organic conjugated materials combining high conductivity with strong solid-state emission are highly desired for organic electronic applications, yet still rather rare. Herein, a novel luminogen (TEN) comprised by linking naphthalene diimides and tri-phenyl ethylene with vinyl bridges is reported. TEN exhibits aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behavior of a strong near-infrared fluorescence over 700 nm and the efficiency above 60.5% in the solid state, while also shows promising application in vivo bio-imaging with good permeability and extremely low background. Single crystal of TEN reveals intra- and inter-molecular C–H···O hydrogen bonds, contributing to an inclined molecular stacking along the a -axis of the cell, creating a 1D charge carrier transporting channel under a short π-π interaction distance of 3.42 A, which might benefit the solid emission and charge transport ability simultaneously. Solution processed bottom contact, top gate organic field effect transistors based on TEN reveal a high ambipolar charge transport ability with the hole mobility up to 0.13 cm2 V−1 s−1 and electron mobility up to 0.010 cm2 V−1 s−1. Further atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis on TEN thin film confirm the existence of the 1D π-π stacking channel, suggesting the stacking geometry revealed in crystal crucial for facilitating high charge carrier mobility while preserving the strong solid emission at the same time.