Artificial light-harvesting cellulosic fabrics: Programmable dye assemblies for on-demand heating, antibacterial, and luminescent applications

Light-harvesting systems play a pivotal role in the development of sustainable antimicrobial and self-heating artificial materials. Fabric-based artificial solar light-harvesting systems were constructed by designing the assemblies of a zinc(II) phthalocyanine photosensitizer (CAZnPc) and three different fluorescent dyes on the cotton fabric. The dye-mediated Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) process and π–π stacking endow the modified fabric with exceptional antibacterial, photothermal, and luminescent performances. Under visible light irradiation (100 mW/cm 2 ), CF-ZP/Rh6G (the optimal heating performer) achieves a temperature of 64.5 °C (ΔT = 43.7 °C) within 100 s with an outstanding photothermal stability (<10 % efficiency decay after 5 cycles). CF-ZP/RhB exhibits a superior 1 O 2 generation capability (7.64-fold higher than that of CF-ZnPc). The synergistic photothermal–photodynamic effect enables CF-ZP/Rh6G to attain a 99.9999 % antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli after 90 min of irradiation (30 mW/cm 2 ). Mechanistic study reveals that the performance variations observed for these fabrics arise from the different fluorescent dye molecular structures, causing different intermolecular forces, which modulate energy allocation pathways of photosensitizer to govern functionality. The assembly construction strategy offers a material platform for sunlight-powered wearable thermal management and medical protective applications.