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Luminescent films have received great interest for chemo-/bio-sensing applications due to their distinct advantages over solution-based probes, such as good stability and portability, tunable shape and size, non-invasion, real-time detection, extensive suitability in gas/vapor sensing, and recycling. On the other hand, they can achieve selective and sensitive detection of chemical/biological species using special luminophores with a recognition moiety or the assembly of common luminophores and functional materials. Nowadays, the extensively used assembly techniques include drop-casting/spin-coating, Langmuir-Blodgett (LB), self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), layer-by-layer (LBL), and electrospinning. Therefore, this review summarizes the recent advances in luminescent films with these assembly techniques and their applications in chemo-/bio-sensing. We mainly focused on the discussion of the relationship between the sensing properties of the films and their architecture. Furthermore, we discussed some critical challenges existing in this field and possible solutions that have been or are being developed to overcome these challenges.

A novel sulfonated carbon composite solid acid was successfully prepared by the pyrolysis of a polymer matrix impregnated with glucose followed by sulfonation. The title catalyst has higher acid site density, better esterification activity of both small and large free fatty acids (acetic acid and palmitic acid), and better reusability than the previously reported carbon-based catalyst prepared by sulfonating pyrolyzed sugar. This catalyst also exhibited higher esterification activity than tungstated zirconia (WZ) and Silica-Supported Nafion (Nafion Ò SAC-13). The higher activity of the sulfonated carbon composite solid acid catalyst was clearly due to the presence of a much higher acid site density than any of the other catalysts.

In this work, carbon nanodots were synthesized through a novel solvothermal route, and the effects of carbon nanodots on the ultraweak chemiluminescence (CL) reaction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) were explored for the first time. It was found that the CL emission intensity of H2O2–HSO3 – was significantly enhanced by carbon nanodots: about 60-fold increase in the CL intensity was obtained. The enhanced CL was induced by the excited-state carbon nanodots (CD*), which could be produced from the electron-transfer annihilation of positively charged carbon nanodots (CD•+) and negatively charged carbon nanodots (CD•–). Radical scavengers such as nitro blue tetrazolium chloride (NBT), sodium azide, thiourea, 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide, and ascorbic acid were used to study the intermediate species. The intermediate radicals generated during the reaction of H2O2 and NaHSO3, such as hydroxide radical (•OH), sulfate anionic radical (SO4•–), superoxide anionic radical (•O2 –), and sulfur trioxide anionic radical (•SO3 –), were key species for producing CD•+ and CD•–. The CL enhancement mechanism was proposed based on the results of the CL emission spectra, fluorescence spectra, and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra. The CL properties of carbon nanodots will provide a new route to study the novel materials and broaden the use of them in many fields, such as chemistry, biology, microbiology, and biochemistry.

To achieve efficient polymer-based room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials, covalently embedding phosphors into the polymer matrix appeared as the most appealing approach. However, it is still highly challenging to fabricate RTP materials on a large scale because of the inefficient binding engineering and time-consuming covalent reactions. Here, we have proposed a scalable preparation approach for RTP materials by the facile B─O click reaction between boronic acid–modified phosphors and polyhydroxy polymer matrix. The ab initio molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated that the phosphors were effectively immobilized, resulting in the suppressed nonradiative transitions and activated RTP emission. In comparison to the reported covalent binding time of several hours, such a B─O click reaction can be accomplished within 20 s under ambient environment. The developed strategy simplified the construction of polymer-based RTP polymeric materials by the introduction of facile click chemistry. Our success provides inspirations and possibilities for the scale-up production of RTP materials.

The direct visualization of micelle transitions is along-standing challenge owing to the intractable aggregationcaused quenching of light emission in the micelle solution. Herein, we report the synthesis of asurfactant with atetraphenylethene (TPE) core and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics.T he transition processes of surfactant micelles and the microemulsion droplets (MEDs) formed by the surfactant with aT PE core were clearly visualizedb y ahigh-contrast fluorescence imaging method. The fluorescence intensity of the MEDs decreased as the size of MEDs increased as ar esult of weakening of the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR). The results of this study deepen our understanding of micelle-transition processes and provides olid evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the AIE phenomenon has its origin in the RIR of fluorophores in the aggregate state.

It would be of significance to design a green composite for efficient removal of contaminants. Herein, we fabricated a facile and environmentally friendly composite via direct assembly of surface passivated carbon dots with abundant oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of the positively charged layered double hydroxide (LDH). The resulting LDH-carbon dot composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and N2 adsorption-desorption technique. The adsorption performances of the resulting LDH-carbon dot composites were evaluated for the removal of anionic methyl blue dye. Taking advantage of the combined benefits of LDH and carbon dots, the as-prepared composites exhibited high uptake capability of methyl blue (185 mg/g). The adsorption behavior of this new adsorbent fitted well with Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The reasons for the excellent adsorption capacity of methyl blue on the surface of the LDH-carbon dot hybrid were further discussed. A probable mechanism was speculated to involve the cooperative contributions of hydrogen bonding between methyl blue and carbon dots and electrostatic attraction between methyl blue and LDH, in the adsorption process. This work is anticipated to open up new possibilities in fabricating LDH-carbon dot materials in dealing with anionic dye pollutants.