Complex Nanoparticle of Light-Emitting MEH-PPV with Au: Enhanced Luminescence

Abstract

Complex nanoparticles (NPs) of poly(2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) NP adsorbed with Au NPs (MEH-PPV/Au NPs) were fabricated through a reprecipitation method. The formation of MEH-PPV/Au NP complexes was confirmed through high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared experiments. The laser confocal microscope photoluminescence (PL) efficiency of the complex MEH-PPV/Au single NP dramatically increased compared with that of the MEH-PPV single NP without Au NPs, which was directly confirmed through color charge-coupled device images. The enhanced PL efficiency of the MEH-PPV/Au NP complex might have originated from the energy transfer effect in a surface plasmon resonance coupling between a MEH-PPV NP and Au NPs. The strong local field enhancement due to nanogaps between Au NPs in the background of a light-emitting MEH-PPV NP might be another origin of the PL enhancement of the NP complex, as supported by finite difference time domain calculations. We also observed the blue shift of the PL peaks of the single MEH-PPV and MEH-PPV/Au NP, compared with the solution PL peaks of those NPs.

Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence of Pure Polymer Films and Polymer Blends

“…Individual brighter spots indicate the locations of the Au NPs due to the local PL enhancement of F8BT film by surface plasmon (SP) resonance of Au NPs. [16] After applying the electrochemical potential in the absence of laser excitation, ECL waves are initiated at the F8BT/Au interface because of physical leaks or electrical shorts, as shown in Figure 2b-e. [8] Figure 2b shows the ECL image of the doped film at 0.1 s after applying an electrochemical potential of 1.8 V. By comparing the PL and ECL images, we are able to show that ECL waves are really initiated from the Au NPs. In addition, our new results demonstrate more detail studies of the two types of ECL waves (i.e., pinned and free waves) that are initiated from Au NPs.…”

Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering of MEH-PPV on Gold and Silver Nanoparticles

“…In particular, the interface between metal electrodes and the conjugated polymer plays a significant role in the device performance and stability [7,8]. Additionally, the use of plasmonic nanoparticles (Ag or Au) combined with conjugated polymers has attracted great attention aiming at enhancing their luminescence, resulting in more efficient devices [9][10][11][12]. The performance of solar cells based on conjugated polymers can be also improved by the enhancement of solar harvesting in devices containing Au or Ag nanoparticles [13,14].…”

Influence of TiO2 nanoparticles on the optical and structural properties of PPV thin films converted at low temperatures

“…Some of these devices, like the dye-sensitized solar cell [5], put together organic compounds and inorganic semiconductor nanoparticles in order to absorb sunlight and transport charge carriers. The inclusion of metallic or semiconductor nanoparticles changes the optical properties of the polymers [6][7][8][9][10][11], resulting in new characteristics of the materials that can be explored to technologic applications. In this sense, knowing how inorganic nanoparticles influence organic materials is extremely important.…”