Formation of nanostructures of hexaphenylsilole with enhanced color-tunable emissions

Nanostructures of 1,1,2,3,4,5-hexaphenylsilole (HPS) of various types were obtained on simple reprecipitation with THF as solvent and water as non-solvent. The formation and evolution of these nanostructures were monitored with scanning electron microscopy. Using picosecond time-correlated single-photon counting, we observed enhanced emission and fluorescence lifetimes at volume fractions 70-90% of added water. We report the first enhanced color-tunable emissions of a conjugated organic compound (HPS) due to the formation of nanoflowers, nanoglobules and microglobules, and provide time scales for those nanostructures and the corresponding intermolecular interactions in the aggregates. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.