Purely organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have aroused increasing interests in recent years and have been widely applied in anti‐counterfeiting, biological imaging, sensing, etc. Currently, these materials can be efficiently developed in crystalline states and amorphous polymer‐doped systems. However, achieving organic RTP in solution, especially in water solution, is still a formidable challenge. Recently, reports on aqueous phase RTP have been increasing and some feasible design strategies have been proposed; however, related investigations are still limited and there is a lack of systematic reviews. Therefore, we summarized the recent cases of aqueous phase organic RTP emission with primarily focusing on the RTP properties and efficient design strategies (e.g., forming nanoparticles from phosphorescent molecules and macrocyclic supramolecular assembly). Moreover, promising applications of the aqueous phase organic RTP emission in bio‐imaging and sensing were discussed. Some detailed perspectives concerning materials design and application were provided with the hope to provide inspiration for the future development of aqueous phase organic RTP.

Chemical systems with external control capability and self-recoverability are promising since they can avoid additional chemical or energy imposition during the working process. However, it remains challenging to employ such a nonequilibrium method for the engineering of optoelectronic function and for visualization. Here, we report a functional molecule that can undergo intense conformational regulation upon photoexcitation. It enables a dynamical change in hydrophobicity and a follow-up molecular aggregation in aqueous media, accordingly leading to an aggregation-induced phosphorescence (AIP) behavior. This successive performance is self-recoverable, allowing a rapid (second-scale cycle) and long-standing (>10³ cycles) flicker ability under rhythmical control of the AIP. Compared with traditional bidirectional manipulations, such monodirectional photocontrol with spontaneous reset profoundly enhances the operability while mostly avoiding possible side reactions and fatigue accumulation. Furthermore, this material can serve as a type of luminescent probe for dynamically strengthening visualization in bioimaging. Significance We employed photoexcitation as a unique control method to manipulate molecular aggregation and emission to advance luminescent probe techniques. This study harnesses dynamical and rhythmical photoluminescence to strengthen visualization in bioimaging. These advantages are based on the merit of a type of photocontrollable material, which can undergo fast and self-recoverable aggregation-induced phosphorescence while mostly avoiding possible side reactions and fatigue accumulation, compared with traditional bidirectional manipulations.

Carbon dots have a wide range of applications in biological and medical fields as an alternative to quantum dots because of their low toxicity and excellent luminescence properties. To date, a large number of carbon dots have been prepared and they were consequently reviewed according to their synthetic method, luminescence properties and related applications. The dispersibility of carbon dots in aqueous and/or organic solvents could actually play a significant role in the properties and various application fields, however, such a perspective is ignored by most of the reviewed literature studies. Thus in this minireview, we focus on the surfactant groups of carbon dots which could be classified as hydrophilic, hydrophobic and amphiphilic types. They have accordingly a marked impact on the dispersibility of carbon dots in different solvents as well as the further advantage in those imaging studies in vitro and in vivo.