Facile Synthesis of Fluorescent Quantum Dot-Polymer Nanocomposites via Frontal Polymerization

We report an available approach for quickly fabricating CdS QD-polymer nanocomposites via frontal polymerization (FP). First, we synthesized (3-mercaptopropyl)-1-trimethoxysilane (MPS)-capped CdS quantum dots (QDs). With these MPS-capped CdS QDs containing mercapto groups, MPS-capped CdS QDs can be easily incorporated into a poly(N-methylolacrylamide) (PNMA) matrix via FP. A variety of features for preparing QD-polymer nanocomposites, such as initiator concentration and CdS concentration, were thoroughly investigated. The fluorescence properties of QD-polymer nanocomposites prepared via FP are comparatively investigated on the basis of ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectra and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. Results show that the PL intensity of QD-polymer nanocomposites prepared via the FP method is superior to that obtained by the traditional batch polymerization (BP) method. In addition, by measuring the changes of PL intensity of the samples immersed in different concentrations of copper acetate solution, we found the QD-polymer nanocomposites can be ultrasensitive to copper ions. This FP process can be exploited as a facile and rapid way for synthesis QD-polymer nanocomposites on a large scale, avoiding the fluorescence quenching of nanocrystals during incorporation anocrystals into polymer matrices. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 2170-2177, 2010