Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
4722502 
Journal Article 
Fabrication of monodisperse luminescent nanoparticles with Core/Shell poly(styrene/thiophene) structure 
Jung, YJae; Lee, SunJ; Choi, SW; Kim, JH 
2008 
Yes 
Journal of Polymer Science. Part A, Polymer Chemistry
ISSN: 0887-624X
EISSN: 1099-0518 
46 
17 
5968-5975 
WOS:000258981000024 
Luminescent poly(styrene/thiophene) (PSt/PT) core/shell nanoparticles were prepared by oxidative polymerization in the presence of PSt seed particles. PSt seed particles with uniform size distribution were prepared with an anionic surfactant by an emulsion polymerization process, and were used as a template to prepare monodispersive PT-coated nanoparticles. A luminescent Polythiophene (PT) layer was formed on the surface of PSt nanoparticles by oxidation polymerization with iron chloride (FeCl3) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The mechanism of core/shell formation was found to be the interface-dominant polymerization induced by the electrostatic attraction between the sulfonate group of anionic surfactant and Fe3+ ions after the diffusion of thiophene monomer to the PSt nanoparticles. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) proved the core/shell structure, which provided key evidence that PT was incorporated onto the surface of PSt nanoparticles. In addition, the effect of the PT shell thickness on photoluminescent (PL) intensity was investigated by changing the shell thickness of PSUPT nanoparticles. We observed that the PL intensity increased up to about 30 nm of PT shell thickness, and then decreased due to self-absorption. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 
conjugated polymers; core/shell structure; emulsion polymerization; luminescence; photoluminescence; polystyrene; polythiophene; shell thickness