Scientists Created the Brightest Fluorescent Material Ever Known
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akzy4j/scientists-created-the-brightest-fluorescent-material-ever-known
Behold: The mesmerizing glow of the brightest fluorescent material ever made. These colorful bundles of light may look like visions from a dream of the 1980s, but they are real 3D-printed objects illuminated by a new class of materials called SMILES, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Chem.
SMILES, which stands for small-molecule ionic isolation lattices, are crystals scaffolded by star-shaped structures that can brighten the light of fluorescent dyes to unprecedented levels. The special optical properties of SMILES could have a wide range of applications, such as the development of more efficient lasers, solar cells, and bioimaging technologies.