Effect of proton irradiation on photoluminescent properties of PDMS–nanodiamond composites

Abstract

Pure poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) films, PDMS-nanodiamond (ND) and pure nanodiamond powder were irradiated with 2 MeV protons under a variety of fluence and current conditions. Upon proton irradiation, these samples acquire a fluence-dependent photoluminescence (PL). The emission and excitation spectra, photostability and emission lifetime of the induced photoluminescence of PDMS and PDMS-ND samples are reported. Pure PDMS exhibits a noticeable stable blue PL, while the PDMS-ND composites exhibit a pronounced stable green PL under 425 nm excitation. The PL of PDMS-ND composites is much more prominent than that of pure PDMS or pure ND powder even when irradiated at higher doses. The origin of the significantly enhanced PL intensity for the proton-irradiated PDMS-ND composite is explained by the combination of enhanced intrinsic PL within ND particles due to ion-implantation-generated defects and by PL originating from structural transformations produced by protons at the nanodiamond/matrix interface.

Proton-radiation resistance of poly(ethylene terephthalate)–nanodiamond–graphene nanoplatelet nanocomposites

“…PET irradiated to the fluence D2 as well as PET-ND irradiated to the fluence D1 showed a high background, overwhelming the Raman signal. The appearance of strong photoluminescence (PL) following irradiation was reported previously for nanodiamond and nanodiamond based nanocomposites [24].…”

“…In our previous work [22][23][24][25] it was shown that nanodiamond-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based nanocomposite materials exhibit enhanced stability against high energy proton irradiation as compared to pure PDMS [25]. The appearance of strong photoluminescence (PL) following irradiation, more pronounced for PDMS-DND composites as compared to pure PDMS, was reported.…”

Influence of proton irradiation on the structure and stability of poly(dimethylsiloxane) and poly(dimethylsiloxane)-nanodiamond composite

“…The PDMS-DND nanocomposite was prepared as reported previously. 16,17 When forming PDMS-nanodiamond composites, an intermediate solvent was employed that served as a dispersion medium for the nanoparticles prior to mixing with the polymer matrix. The nanoparticles were dispersed in the solvent and sonicated to break up large agglomerates, then the suspension was combined with uncured PDMS and the solvent subsequently removed by vacuum.…”

“…[11][12][13][14] Recently Xiao et al studied the optical degradation of PDMS under exposure of 150 keV protons to reveal the damage behavior of organic silicone in space. 15 Recently we reported enhanced photoluminescence of PDMS and PDMS-DND composite samples 16 induced by high energy proton irradiation which can be the basis for determining radiation exposure and dose. Following irradiation pure PDMS exhibits a noticeable stable blue photoluminescence ͑PL͒, while the PDMS-DND composites exhibit a pronounced stable green PL under 425 nm excitation.…”

A comparative study of the structure and luminescence of mono- and dinuclear crown-ether lanthanide complexes

“…A question to be raised is if this neighboring Si-O bond has a similar nature to that of the siloxane unit and, since the whole complex has a total of six clustered Si-O bonds, if a cooperative effect could be in action. Visible luminescence, exhibiting peaks at 480, 510 and 530 nm, has been reported in modified Sibased polymers like the PDMS, poly(dimethylsiloxane) [45], whose functional groups are similar to a portion of the silacrown ether, since it presents carbon atoms bonded to each silicon in siloxane group. The latter result matches satisfactorily those transitions found in the emission spectra for the Gd 2 SW 8 complex, as discussed above, located at 454, 510 (maximum) and 550 nm.…”