Mechanoluminescence from pure hydrocarbon AIEgen

We obtained a pure hydrocarbon tetraphenylethene (TPE) derivative with the characteristic of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and mechanoluminescence (ML). The centrosymmetric crystal in the space group of C2 and the non-polar molecule indicate that the ML property is not related to the piezoelectric effect in the crystal; alternatively, a strong static electric interaction may be responsible for its ML phenomenon.