Antenna effect, photoluminescence

In addition to the antennae effect, dendrimers are also effective insulators and exhibit the shell effect. In providing a dense shell around the incorporated chromophores, dendrimers effectively prevent aggregation which leads to non-emissive excimers and self-quenching that occurs when chromophores with small Stokes shifts are within short distances of one another. This shell effect allows for increased photoluminescence efficiency of the enclosed chromophore, which is important for optoelectronic devices. 

---