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.