Visible-light-excited organic room temperature phosphorescence.

Purely organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have evoked considerable attention owing to their fantastic optical properties and broad application prospects. However, most of the reported organic RTP materials can be only excited by UV light, leading to accelerated photoaging of organic phosphors and severe lesions of organisms under excitation. In contrast to UV light, visible light (380-780 nm) has much lower phototoxicity, deeper penetrability and easier accessibility, which make visible-light-excited RTP materials more favorable for practical uses, especially for life-related applications. Although it remains greatly challenging to construct visible-light-excited RTP materials, impressive progress has been made with the rapid development of this field. Herein, we systematically outline the significant progress achieved in visible-light-excited RTP materials, including the design and construction strategies, unique properties, underlying mechanisms and their vital applications. In the final section, we highlight the current challenges and research perspectives for suggesting future studies of visible-light-excited RTP materials.