Fabrication and Characterization of GRIN Plastic Rods Containing Silver Nanoparticles with Novel Surfmers

Abstract

Summary: Both novel polymerizable surfactants of 2‐(methacroyloxy)ethyl succinate (MAES) and succinic acid mono{11‐[2‐(2‐methylacryloyloxy)ethoxy]undecyl} ester (SAME‐11) were synthesized in this investigation. A novel method was also developed for the preparation of gradient refractive index (GRIN) plastic rods containing inorganic nanoparticles with the polymerizable surfactants (surfmers). Silver nanoparticles were prepared using W/O (water in oil) reverse micelle technique in the presence of the surfmers. The effect of w values (w = [H2O]/[surfmer]), silver nitrate concentration, surfmer/isooctane/H2O ratio, and initiator concentration on the nanoparticle size was investigated. The optical absorption spectra of the micellar samples were recorded on a spectrophotometer at room temperature in the range of 200–900 nm. The nanoparticle size was confirmed with a transmission electron microcopy (TEM) technique. To introduce the nanoparticles into the GRIN plastic rods, methyl methacrylate (MMA) was used instead of isooctane in the organic phase. Nanoparticles were found to increase the refractive index of plastic rods effectively. Light scattering and an opaque appearance due to the aggregation of nanoparticles and the existence of surfactants were solved using the polymerizable surfmers in this investigation. We estimated both the real image transmission and the three dimensional refractive index distributions of the prepared GRIN plastic rods. The results of this investigation suggested that nanoparticles could be used as a kind of dopant to fabricate GRIN plastic rods and increased its refractive index effectively. Polymerizable surfactant could further raise the refractive index of the core of the GRIN rods leading to an increase of the numerical apertures (NA) and the acceptance angle (θmax) of the plastic rods.Three dimensional refractive index distribution of GRIN plastic rod prepared in this investigation.magnified imageThree dimensional refractive index distribution of GRIN plastic rod prepared in this investigation.

Fabrication of high‐performance, gradient‐refractive‐index plastic rods with surfmer‐cluster‐stabilized nanoparticles

“…However, no further considerable refractive‐index profile changes were found after another 12 h of heat treatment of the plastic rod. In comparison with the GRIN plastic rods prepared with our previous method containing DS,20 the refractive‐index difference of the prepared GRIN rod changed from 0.0246 to 0 when the rod was heated at 100 °C for 24 h. Contrary to that, the thermal stability of the GRIN plastic rods fabricated with the method in this investigation was extremely improved.…”

“…In our previous work, we fabricated novel methods for swollen gel polymerization16, 17 and centrifugal diffusion polymerization (CDP)18 for the preparation of a GRIN plastic rod. To improve the refractive‐index difference between the central axis and periphery of the rods, unreactive, high‐refractive‐index diphenyl sulfide (DS) and nanoparticles of silver with surfmers were introduced as dopants 19, 20. However, it was found that low‐molecular‐weight DS inside the plastic rods might randomly move and lead to a decrease in and even loss of the optical characteristics of the GRIN plastic rod.…”

Randomized controlled trials of treatments for hematologic malignancies

“…In our previous studies,26–30 we synthesized a series of chiral dopants and chiral polymers and investigated their optical properties and applications on liquid‐crystal cells and recording films. In this investigation, we aimed to provide new compounds, in particular, polymerizable and/or mesogenic compounds, which were suitable as photoisomerizable compounds and for other uses, were easy to synthesize in a large range of derivatives, and preferably showed broad liquid‐crystalline phases with high clearing points.…”

Anatomical Optical Coherence Tomography of the Human Upper Airway

“…Publication Delay line type Scan depth Scan repetition rate Swanson [91] Retroreflector on galvanometer 20 mm 1.9 Hz Tearney [92] PZM fibre stretcher 2.2 mm 1.2 kHz Su [93] rotating cube 1.5 mm 22 Hz Ballif [94] rotating cube 50 mm 384 Hz Delachenal [95] rotating partiallygold-coated cube 118 mm 76.25 Hz Szydlo [96] air-turbine-driven rotating cube 2 mm 28.6 kHz Giniūnas [97] rotating parallelogram prism 6.9 mm 50 Hz Lai [98] rotating prism array 3.5 mm 2 kHz Chen [99] mirrors on rotating disk 2 mm 2.4 kHz Shiina [100] retro-reflectors on a rotating disk 40 mm 15 Hz Liu [101] 2 flat (one rotating) mirrors, 1 curved mirror 1.5 mm 4.1 kHz A schematic and 3D rendered model of a long range FDODL using a polarization beam splitter (PBS), first described by Silva [82], is shown in Figure 3.4. Light initially entering the FDODL has the correct linear polarization state so that it will pass through the PBS without reflecting.…”