Organic photostimulated luminescence associated with persistent spin-correlated radical pairs

Materials that display photostimulated luminescence are attractive for multiple applications. Here, photostimulated luminescence is demonstrated in an all-organic blend film, in which a dopant molecule functions as both an electron trap and a light emitter. Photostimulated luminescence allows energy or data to be stored and released using electromagnetic waves as both the input and output, and has attracted considerable interest in the fields of biomedical and information technologies. However, this phenomenon is mostly limited to solid inorganic materials. Here, we report photostimulated luminescence from purely organic blend films, composed of electron donor, acceptor, and trap/emitter molecules. Charges in the films are accumulated as radical ions by ultraviolet light irradiation and then extracted by near-infrared light irradiation. Even after storage in the dark for one week they produce visible light with good repeatability, color tunability, and are responsive to weak external magnetic fields. These findings might broadly impact existing applications and provide new prospects for innovative flexible devices.