Facile Fabrication of Color Tunable Film and Fiber Nanocomposites via Thiol Click Chemistry

A simple method for the fabrication of nanocomposite materials using thiol click chemistry is reported. The thiol click nanocomposite materials produced each displayed distinctive colors which were found to be dependent on both the ligand used to functionalize the nanoparticles and the concentration of nanoparticles in the materials. Functionalized metallic nanospheres were combined with thiol click solutions forming viscous prepolymer solutions which were then polymerized upon UV light exposure. Films were fabricated in a custom-built film mold, and microfibers were fabricated using hydrodynamic focusing in a microfluidic channel. For this study, three unique thiolated ligands-including a newly synthesized ligand were used to functionalize the nanospheres, thus assisting in the facile incorporation and stability of the nanospheres within the polymers. In comparison to a previously reported method in which thiol-ene nanocomposite films were fabricated, the method reported herein reduces the fabrication time from weeks to minutes. Furthermore, the method in this report is expanded to also include fabrication of thiol-yne nanocomposites. Young's moduli and glass transition temperatures were determined for the materials, while UV-vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and optical analyses were also performed in order to characterize the nanocomposites.