Dataset Information

Controlling photophysical properties of ultrasmall conjugated polymer nanoparticles through polymer chain packing.

ABSTRACT: Applications of conjugated polymer nanoparticles (Pdots) for imaging and sensing depend on their size, fluorescence brightness and intraparticle energy transfer. The molecular design of conjugated polymers (CPs) has been the main focus of the development of Pdots. Here we demonstrate that proper control of the physical interactions between the chains is as critical as the molecular design. The unique design of twisted CPs and fine-tuning of the reprecipitation conditions allow us to fabricate ultrasmall (3.0-4.5?nm) Pdots with excellent photostability. Extensive photophysical and structural characterization reveals the essential role played by the packing of the polymer chains in the particles in the intraparticle spatial alignment of the emitting sites, which regulate the fluorescence brightness and the intraparticle energy migration efficiency. Our findings enhance understanding of the relationship between chain interactions and the photophysical properties of CP nanomaterials, providing a framework for designing and fabricating functional Pdots for imaging applications.

SUBMITTER: Piwonski H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5440812 | biostudies-other | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Controlling photophysical properties of ultrasmall conjugated polymer nanoparticles through polymer chain packing.

Piwoński Hubert H Michinobu Tsuyoshi T Habuchi Satoshi S

Nature communications 20170516

Applications of conjugated polymer nanoparticles (Pdots) for imaging and sensing depend on their size, fluorescence brightness and intraparticle energy transfer. The molecular design of conjugated polymers (CPs) has been the main focus of the development of Pdots. Here we demonstrate that proper control of the physical interactions between the chains is as critical as the molecular design. The unique design of twisted CPs and fine-tuning of the reprecipitation conditions allow us to fabricate ul ...[more]

PMID: 28508857

Similar Datasets

Project description:We study the effects of patterned surface chemistry on the microscale and nanoscale morphology of solution-processed donor/acceptor polymer-blend films. Focusing on combinations of interest in polymer solar cells, we demonstrate that patterned surface chemistry can be used to tailor the film morphology of blends of semiconducting polymers such as poly-[2-(3,7-dimethyloctyloxy)-5-methoxy-p-phenylenevinylene] (MDMO-PPV), poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT), poly[(9,9-dioctylflorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-benzothiadiazole)] (F8BT), and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-bis-N,N'-(4-butylphenyl)-bis-N,N'-phenyl-1,4-phenylendiamine) (PFB) with the fullerene derivative, [6,6]-phenyl-C(61)-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). We present a method for generating patterned, fullerene-terminated monolayers on gold surfaces and use microcontact printing and Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN) to pattern alkanethiols with both micro- and nanoscale features. After patterning with fullerenes and other functional groups, we backfill the rest of the surface with a variety of thiols to prepare substrates with periodic variations in surface chemistry. Spin coating polymer:PCBM films onto these substrates, followed by thermal annealing under nitrogen, leads to the formation of structured polymer films. We characterize these films with Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, and fluorescence microscopy. The surface patterns are effective in guiding phase separation in all of the polymer:PCBM systems investigated and lead to a rich variety of film morphologies that are inaccessible with unpatterned substrates. We demonstrate our ability to guide pattern formation in films thick enough to be of interest for actual device applications (up to 200 nm in thickness) using feature sizes as small as 100 nm. Finally, we show that the surface chemistry can lead to variations in film morphology on length scales significantly smaller than those used in generating the original surface patterns. The variety of behaviors observed and the wide range of control over polymer morphology achieved at a variety of different length scales have important implications for the development of bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Dataset Information

Controlling photophysical properties of ultrasmall conjugated polymer nanoparticles through polymer chain packing.

Publications

Controlling photophysical properties of ultrasmall conjugated polymer nanoparticles through polymer chain packing.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets