Phosphorescent Polymer Nanocomposites
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Phosphorescent polymer nanocomposites Christoph Blattmann Particle Technology Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland Proposal handed in March 23, 2011 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Introduction or Why this Project is important? Polymer nanocomposites are essential in order to realize some of the industrial products of the future. Phosphorescent nanocomposites have a wide range of applications looking for a reliable as well as scalable method for their production. The embedding of nanoparticles into polymer matrices and so forming a polymer nanocomposite material has been engaging a lot of research. This is due to the enhanced properties one achieves in comparison to the plain polymer.1 One functionality studied in polymers is the luminescence.2,3,4 By excitation of the luminescent additive in the polymer matrix, e.g. by UV irradiation, it will emit electromagnetic radiation for instance in the spectrum of visible light. This property has a wide range of application from warning and signaling signs,5 to displays6 and optoelectronic devices2 as well as in biological applications.3,2 II. What has been done already Creating luminescent polymers can be achieved either by adding organic dyes or by incorporating phosphorescent or fluorescent nanoparticles into the matrix.6 Dyes have a limited lifetime due to bleaching, and fluorescent semiconducting nanoparticles limit the application range due to their toxicity and optical blinking.6 In these mentioned aspects, phosphorescent particles show superiority.6 7,8 2,9 Examples of phosphorescent materials are rare-earth metal doped Y2O3 and CeF3. Their nanoparticle production has been widely studied and can be coarsely divided into wet and dry synthesis.6 The former shows a tendency for aggregation due to post-heat treatment and so discourages a good distribution later on in a polymer matrix.6 The dry synthesis method of flame-spray pyrolysis (FSP) has a good reputation in respect to nanoparticle production due to the good reproducibility, ease of adjustment of particle size, shape and structure as well as the for future industrial application relevant factor, a high scalability.6,7,8 The process of incorporating nanophosphors into a polymer matrix is not as widely studied as their production. The key issues here are the agglomeration tendencies of the nanoparticles9 and the choice of polymer to enable a high degree of transparency and so to enable the flux of the emitted radiation.1,2 A good polymer choice for a wide range of applications is PMMA (poly(methyl methacrylate)) in specific due to its optical properties.2,9 The problem of agglomeration in general nanocomposite materials has been solved by functionalizing the filler particles,1,2 which makes their surface structure hydrophobic as the polymer. The most widely applied embedding method for nanophosphors is in-situ polymerization.2,4,9 In this method the desired nanoparticles are mixed with a monomer solution and following polymerization is initiated. Chai et al.9 reported a composite with high transparency at low filler content (e.g. 0.072wt.% CeF3:Tb). The illuminance behavior as well as the degree of agglomeration increased with the particle content. Imai et al.4 also experienced problems with agglomeration due to the use of a high filler content (10wt.%) without functionalizing the Eu doped SrAl2O4 particles. Better results were achieved 2 by Sayed et al. , who functionalized the nanophosphors (CeF3:RE) prior to embedding and so achieved a 1.0wt.% composite with a good dispersion. A similar method is melt blending, where the nanoparticles are mixed with a polymer melt. This method was applied by Stan et al.5, who was also successful in producing a luminescent polymer nanocomposite. An alternative method for embedding nanoparticles is the layer-by-layer (LbL) or a slight variation the spin-assisted layer-by-layer (SA-LbL) technique.3 By alternatively depositing polymer and particle layers through an electrostatic adsorption, one creates a nanocomposite film. This method was applied 3 by Bao et al. , who embedded upconversion nanocrystals (NaYF4: Yb, Er) into a polymer matrix. Their attempt was successful in respect to a low degree of agglomeration and high mechanical durability. The bad scalability, due to the multiple process steps, reduces its success for a practical realization.3,6 III. Planned work or What will be done The goal of this project is to pave the way in the creation of a new method for embedding nanophosphors into a polymer. The essential aspects, that are relevant in the resulting product, are the scalability of the whole process, a good dispersion of the nanophosphors within the polymer and the luminescent behavior of the created film. By utilizing the FSP technique for the production of doped Y2O3 with Eu and/or Tb, the nanophosphors can be reliably adjusted in size, shape and crystalline structure.6 Additionally, as mentioned before, this method is scalable8 and will therefore encourage the goal of an overall scalable method. Therefore the particles will be directly deposited by FSP onto a glass substrate. This will achieve a highly porous film (porosity ~97%).9 By short, low temperature in-situ annealing10, the deposited particles will be fixated without substantially decreasing the porosity. The deposited film will in a following step be analyzed and optimized to create a homogeneously deposited layer. Evaluation will be according to the luminescence behavior, UV/Vis spectrum results as well as the morphology evaluated by a SEM analysis. The suitable particle film thickness will in the following step be embedded into the polymer. This will be done by depositing a polymer onto the substrate and then spin-coating to form the composite with the desired thickness. Again the luminescence behavior, UV/Vis spectrum and SEM results will be used to evaluate the entire composite film, and the wt.% of the whole nanocomposite will be evaluated by TGA. IV. References 1. Otsuka T, Chujo Y. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-based hybrid materials with reactive zirconium oxide nanocrystals. Polymer Journal. 2010;42(1):58-65. 2. Sayed FN, Grover V, Dubey KA, Sudarsan V, Tyagi AK. Solid state white light emitting systems 3+ based on CeF3: RE nanoparticles and their composites with polymers. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 2011;353(2):445-453. 3. Bao Y, Luu QAN, Lin CK, Schloss JM, May PS, Jiang CY. Layer-by-layer assembly of freestanding thin films with homogeneously distributed upconversion nanocrystals. Journal of Materials Chemistry. 2010;20(38):8356-8361. 4. Imai Y, Momoda R, Xu CN. Elasticoluminescence of europium-doped strontium aluminate spherical particles dispersed in polymeric matrices. Materials Letters. 2007;61(1920):4124-4127. 5. Stan CS, Sibiescu D, Secula MS, Rosca I, Cretescu I. Phosphorescent composites based on polyethyleneterephtalate. Materiale Plastice. 2010;47(3):324-327. 6. Sotiriou GA, Schneider M, Pratsinis SE. Color-tunable nanophosphors by codoping flame-made Y2O3 with Tb and Eu. Journal of Phyical Chemistry C. 2011;115(4):1084-1089. 7. Kubrin R, Tricoli A, Camenzind A, Pratsinis SE, Bauhofer W. Flame aerosol deposition of Y2O3:Eu nanophosphor screens and their photoluminescent performance. Nanotechnology. 2010;21(22). 3+ 8. Camenzind A, Strobel R, Pratsinis SE. Cubic or monoclinic Y2O3:Eu nanoparticles by one step flame spray pyrolysis. Chemical Physics Letters. 2005;415(4-6):193-197. 9. Chai RT, Lian HZ, Li CX, et al. In situ preparation and luminescent properties of CeF3 and 3+ 3+ CeF3:Tb nanoparticles and transparent CeF3:Tb /PMMA nanocomposites in the visible spectral range. Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2009;113(19):8070-8076. 10. Tricoli A, Righettoni M, Pratsinis SE. Anti-fogging nanofibrous SiO2 and nanostructured SiO2- TiO2 films made by rapid flame deposition and in situ annealing. Langmuir. 2009; 25(21):12578-12584. .