In this ‘Hot’ paper, Mark Green and co-workers from Kings College, London report the synthesis of small luminescent conjugated polymer nanoparticles and the role of poly(ethylene glycol) in the nanoparticle structure. This is the first time that semiconducting polymer nanospheres (SPNs) on the scale of quantum dots have been made using miniemulsion methods.
SPNs have been made using miniemulsion methods previously but the resulting materials have been significantly larger than quantum dots. Quantum dots are desirable as these are the nanomaterial of choice for cell imaging. The SPNs were characterized by TEM, absorption and emission spectroscopy, they were found to be stable in solution for months and bright and are expected to be effective in various fluorescence applications.
Interested in knowing more? Read for free until 13th January 2011.
Luminescent quantum-dot-sized conjugated polymer nanoparticles—nanoparticle formation in a miniemulsion system
Zeina Hashim, Philip Howes and Mark Green
J. Mater. Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0JM02935A, Paper
