Excited State Modulation of Copper Clusters Realized by Single-Site Alteration Achieving Near-Infrared Luminescence.

Modulating the excited states of coinage metal clusters can effectively improve their photophysical properties, and significant progress has been realized through ligand modification and heterometallic doping. However, precise substitution of individual atoms within the kernel remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we present three copper cluster analogs, namely CuS, CuSe, and CuP, displaying distinct thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), wherein CuS and CuSe display yellow luminescence with QYs of 99.2% and 89.0% respectively, while CuP with the first HP unit in copper clusters exhibits near-infrared (NIR) emission with a QY of 22.2%. Theoretical calculations have verified that the energy levels of excited states in copper clusters are modulated by substituting the central coordinating atoms. The spin-orbit coupling of CuP, CuS, and CuSe, as well as the structural deformation differences between the excited state and the ground state, leads to the different luminescence quantum yields. This study not only reports the first HP-involved copper cluster but also establishes a platform for investigation on single-site modulation directed luminescence of copper clusters.