Fabrication and humidity sensing performance studies of a fluorescent film based on a cholesteryl derivative of perylene bisimide

•A fluorescent film based on a cholesteryl derivative of perylene bisimide was fabricated via utilization of an electrostatic spinning technique.•The fluorescence emission of the film is sensitive to the variation of local environmental humidity.•The fibrous network structure of the fluorescent film and their chemical composition make the fluorescent film with better performance.

A fluorescent film based on a cholesteryl derivative of perylene bisimide (PTCDI-co-CholDEA) was fabricated via utilization of an electrostatic spinning technique on a glass plate surface. SEM studies revealed that the film was characterized by fibrous network structure. It is the structure and the chemical composition that make the fluorescence emission of the film sensitive to the variation of local environmental humidity. The sensitivity of the sensing is 0.1497 (× 104 a.u. of the intensity)/1% RH, of which RH is the abbreviation of relative humidity. The maximum quenching efficiency of the film is 55.4% when humidity reaches 97% RH. Furthermore, the sensing process is fully reversible, and presence of other commonly found liquids shows little effect to the monitoring process.

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