Stretchable Multicolor Emission of Polymer/Dye Blends Induced by Intermolecular Interaction and Solid-State Aggregation

The preparation, morphology and photophysical properties of stretchable polymer/fluorescent dyes (FDs) blends are reported. The used FDs include 2-naphthalenemethanol (NA), 9-anthracenemethanol (AN), 1-pyrenemethanol (PY), and 3-perylenylmethanol (PE). It is discovered that the solid-state aggregation in FDs/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) promotes through the intermolecular interaction leading to an ordered structure in the blends. In contrast, the blends using other polymers of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) show disordered structure and poor stretchability-performance properties. This might be related to the interruption on the solid-state stacking of FDs from hydrogen-bonding interaction between the matrix polymer and the FDs, leading to the inefficient pathway for the exciton migration. The crosslinked PDMS/PY composites present an excellent luminescence properties featured with photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 13.8% and stretchability featured with elongation at the break of 80% strain.

Automated summary

The use of intermolecular interactions promotes the formation of an ordered structure in the blends, while hydrogen-bonding interactions may interrupt the solid-state stacking of FDs, affecting the pathway for exciton migration and the performance of the blends.