Fig. 1: Deprotonation process of PMI-CBN compound.

a Chemical structure of PMI-CBN and PMI-CBN/DBU. Inset: Photographs of the corresponding solutions under natural light. b–d Absorption and fluorescence emission spectra of the tetrahydrofuran solution of PMI-CBN (5 × 10−6 mol L−1) with the addition of DBU, where the excitation wavelengths for the spectra shown in (c, d) are 570 and 830 nm, respectively. e 1H NMR spectra of PMI-CBN, and PMI-CBN/DBU before and after adding TFA in DMSO-d6. f FT-IR spectra of the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film, as well as the PMMA films doped with DBU, PMI-CBN, or PMI-CBN/DBU.