Room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials with long-lived excitons have attracted wide attention because of their unique advantages in low background interference, large Stokes shifts, high excitons utilization, enhanced signal-to-noise ratio, and long-lived emission, which exhibit good application prospects in sensing, information encryption, imaging, and light-emitting diodes. The phosphorescent performance of RTP materials is very sensitive to many factors such as humidity, environmental oxygen, and rigid structure. Except for improving intersystem crossing efficiency, the design concept of efficient RTP materials is primarily focused on suppressing the non-radiative and oxygen-quenching deactivation of triplet excitons. This Research Topic will provide a collection of the latest research activities in the field of RTP materials, including the design and synthesis of phosphorescent materials, the regulation of optical performance, and advanced applications.

Although RTP materials have shown great application prospects, they still face many problems. From the application perspective, the construction of stable RTP materials with highly phosphorescent quantum yield and long lifetime above millisecond level is of great significance. However, achieving RTP materials with both high quantum yields and long lifetimes is highly difficult because of a conflict exists between phosphorescent efficiency and lifetime. Meanwhile, the construction of highly stable aqueous RTP materials is also challenging due to the nonradiative and oxygen quenching deactivation of the triplet state in aqueous solution. To achieve efficient aqueous RTP emission, various strategies such as coordination-induced structural rigidity, molecular aggregation, host-guest doping, and hydrogen-bonded networks have been proposed. This Research Topic will focus on the research progress of RTP materials in the above-mentioned areas.

In this Research Topic, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Development of new strategies for RTP material design and synthesis;

• Construction of highly stable aqueous RTP materials;

• State-of-the-art technologies to improve the performance of RTP materials;

• Study on the optical mechanism of RTP materials;

• The advanced applications of RTP materials such as phosphorescent imaging and sensing, and optoelectronic devices.

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Design and application of phosphorescent materials