Generalized Solvent Effect on the Fluorescence Performance of Spiropyran for Advanced Quick Response Code Dynamic Anti-Counterfeiting Sensing

Spiropyran has an attractive and mysterious fluorescence switch and dual-color conversion characteristics, as it exhibits both aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) in solvents and fluorescence enhancement in polymer matrices. The explanation for this phenomenon has always been of great controversy. Hence, the solvent effect on the emission of spiropyran (<b>SP</b>) was investigated in 16 solvents. By means of molecular orbital theory and the Jablonski diagram, several special parameters (e.g., Hansen solubility parameters and viscosity) were selected for this analysis, with excellent goodness of fit. Subsequently, the main factors that affected the blue shift, red shift, and luminescence efficiency of the emission of the ring-opened form merocyanine (<b>MC</b>) were found to be the hydrogen bonding and polarity, aggregation effect, and viscosity, respectively. A newly modified Jablonski diagram was proposed to clarify the emission behaviors of spiropyran influenced by solvent polarity and isomerization. Meanwhile, the solvent effect could also be extended to a solid polymer matrix (six kinds of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with different molecular weights), which is proposed to be defined as the generalized solvent effect. Accordingly, we have demonstrated that the unique fluorescence properties of spiropyran are dominated by the generalized solvent effect. The security information storage capacity of the simulated quick response (QR) code sensor combined with <b>SP</b> for anti-counterfeiting was significantly improved to six dimensions in taking advantage of the former theoretical analysis.