Oxide/polymer nanocomposites as new luminescent materials

It is demonstrated that nanocomposites, consisting of an electrically insulating oxide core and PMMA coating exhibit strong luminescence. This luminescence is connected to the interface, where PMMA is bond via a carboxylate bonding to the surface. In this case, luminescence is originated at the carbonyl group of the coating polymer. With decreasing particle size, this emission shows a blue shift, following a law inversely the ones found for quantum confinement systems. For semi-conducting oxides, such as ZnO, this interface related emission is found additionally to quantum confinement phenomena.