Issue 14, 2016

Size and morphology effects on the fluorescence properties of π-conjugated poly(p-phenylene) polyelectrolyte nanoparticles synthesized via polyion association

Abstract

A facile method is developed to synthesize π-conjugated polymer nanoparticles of propoxy-sulfonated poly(p-phenylene) polyelectrolyte (PPP-SO). The synthesis is based on nano-agglomeration via polyion association in a poor solvent (termed as NAPA approach), which involves polyion complex formation between the anionic PPP-SO and the cationic poly(diallyldimethylammonium) (PDDA) and subsequent nano-globulization. Size tuning is successful by varying the net charge ratio between PDDA and PPP-SO. Salient features of the present PPP nanoparticle system include a dual emission property; in particular, small nanoparticles exhibit a prominent green-site emission (λem ≥ ∼500 nm). Since small particles have a large surface-to-volume ratio, the green-site fluorescence is reasonably associated with the surface (or interfacial) region on the ion-based polymer nanoparticles. On the basis of fluorescence anisotropy for the PPP nanoparticles, the green-site emission can be due to both energy transfer (or exciton migration) to a structural trap-site on the polymer backbone and exclusive excitation of the chromophoric segments having a long effective conjugation length, where the contribution of the latter mechanism is significant when the size becomes small.

Graphical abstract: Size and morphology effects on the fluorescence properties of π-conjugated poly(p-phenylene) polyelectrolyte nanoparticles synthesized via polyion association

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Oct 2015
Accepted
08 Dec 2015
First published
08 Dec 2015

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016,4, 2945-2953

Author version available

Size and morphology effects on the fluorescence properties of π-conjugated poly(p-phenylene) polyelectrolyte nanoparticles synthesized via polyion association

H. Yao and C. Fukui, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 2945 DOI: 10.1039/C5TC03337C

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