Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy: Advancing the Frontier of Material Science

Controlling the formation dynamics and tuning the micro/nanoscale structures are crucial to design materials with desired properties for specific applications. Thus, the visualization of the structures and probing of the in situ formation mechanisms of molecular materials is quite important albeit challenging. Recently, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) has emerged as a valuable complementary, robust, and non-invasive technique along with conventional imaging tools to unravel the nanoscale morphology and dynamics of fluorescent or fluorophore-tagged molecular materials. Considering the current need to understand the field, this perspective article emphasizes the growing importance of FLIM to explore the salient aspects of diverse materials, including semiconductor nanocrystals, molecular self-assembly, polymers, and metal-organic frameworks. We will deliberate the fundamental features of FLIM and its applications to decipher the stimuli-responsive dynamic molecular self-assembly process, the growth kinetics and mechanistic insights of polymers, and probe the phase purity in metal-organic frameworks. We will also highlight the use of FLIM in photoluminescence blinking and photon antibunching which can resolve many unreciprocated facts in the field of semiconductor nanocrystals. Beyond presenting up-to-date knowledge in the field, we will outline the potential future directions of FLIM, emphasizing its role in developing novel materials and improving existing ones. This advancement paves the way for new opportunities in materials science research and applications.