Fabrication and optical characterization of poly(2,5‐di‐n‐butoxyphenylene) nanofibril arrays

Abstract

Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane can be used as template for the synthesized nanostructures. In this article, we have prepared the AAO membrane by using electrooxidation of aluminum substrate in phosphoric acid, and fabricated poly(2,5-di-n-butoxyphenylene) (BuO-PPP) nanofibril arrays by oxidative coupling polymerization of 1,4-di-n-butoxybenzene (DBB) within the pores of the AAO template membrane. The detailed molecular structure of the polymer nanofibrils was characterized by using infrared and 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and estimated to consist of almost equal fractions of 1,4-and 1,3-linkages. We have used transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atom force microscopy to confirm the morphologies and images of the AAO template membrane and the fabricated nanometer scale of BuO-PPP nanofibril arrays. The experimental results demonstrated that the pores of the AAO membrane were regular and uniform, and parallel each other, and the BuO-PPP chains in the narrowest template-synthesized nanofibrils were oriented parallel to the porous axes of the AAO membrane and perpendicular to the surface of the aluminum substrate. The polymer chain orientation was partially responsible for the enhanced conductivity. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum of the BuO-PPP nanofibril arrays shown that the polymer contains a better extended -conjugation system along poly-(p-phenylene) backbone, which resulted in longer wavelength shift of the absorption band, the absorption maxima were located at 258 nm (E 1 absorption band) and 332 nm (E 2 absorption band), respectively. Photoluminescence spectrum of the BuO-PPP nanofibril arrays exhibited a blue emission.

Controlled Fabrication of Nanopillar Arrays as Active Substrates for Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

“…We demonstrate the effectiveness and reproducibility of such nanopillar arrays as a SERS substrate for detecting thionine dye at ultralow concentrations. Because of its highly ordered nanoporous structure, AAO has been used as a robust template for fabricating a variety of nanostructured materials such as metals, , semiconductors, carbon nanotubes, , and polymers . Additionally, the pore size and interpore distances can be readily tunned during the anodization.…”

“…Because of its highly ordered nanoporous structure, AAO has been used as a robust template for fabricating a variety of nanostructured materials such as metals, 16,17 semiconductors, 18 carbon nanotubes, 19,20 and polymers. 21 Additionally, the pore size and interpore distances can be readily tunned during the anodization. Both electroless and electrochemical deposition have been used to fill template pores with metals to create ordered nanowire or nanopillar arrays.…”

Fabrication of Orderly Copper Particle Arrays on a Multi‐Electrolyte‐Step Anodic Aluminum Oxide Template

“…In the past, AAO nanochannel arrays were grown in phosphoric or oxalic acid. The results of analysis of the circularities of the holes produced from one-step AAO processes [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] are shown in Figure 1. It can be seen that it is difficult to grow good quality arrays with a period in the range from 150 to 300 nm in phosphoric acid using the traditional AAO method.…”