High‐Throughput Preparation of New Photoactive Nanocomposites

Abstract

New low-cost photoactive hybrid materials based on organic luminescent molecules inserted into hydrotalcite (layered double hydroxides; LDH) were produced, which exploit the high-throughput liquid-assisted grinding (LAG) method. These materials are conceived for applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as a co-absorbers and in silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels to improve their efficiency as they are able to emit where PV modules show the maximum efficiency. A molecule that shows a large Stokes' shift was designed, synthesized, and intercalated into LDH. Two dyes already used in DSSCs were also intercalated to produce two new nanocomposites. LDH intercalation allows the stability of organic dyes to be improved and their direct use in polymer melt blending. The prepared nanocomposites absorb sunlight from UV to visible and emit from blue to near-IR and thus can be exploited for light-energy management. Finally one nanocomposite was dispersed by melt blending into a poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly(n-butyl acrylate) copolymer to obtain a photoactive film.

Solid silica nanoparticles as carriers of fluorescent squaraine dyes in aqueous media: Toward a molecular engineering approach

“…Moreover, SQ-based self-assembly in hydrophobic phospholipid bilayers of liposomes were successfully used for in vivo imaging [8]. In the domain of inorganic carriers, a possibility is the intercalation of photoactive compounds into hydrotalcite (layered double hydroxides; LDH) [9], or they can be loaded inside amorphous silica nanoparticles, depending on the specific application.…”

Reliability study under thermal and photonic stresses of sulforhodamine B (SRB) confined in layered double hydroxide (LDH)

“…Traditionally, LDH materials find applications as precursors in catalysis and as scavengers in environmental science, but are also finding renewed interest in the domain of energy (Wu et al, 2018;Yin et al, 2019) as well as in biology as vessels for drug delivery (Conterosito et al, 2016;Lonkar et al, 2013;Yan et al, 2014). Their general chemical formula is as follows…”

Understanding the Ion Exchange Process in LDH Nanomaterials by Fast In Situ XRPD and PCA-Assisted Kinetic Analysis

“…Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have attracted a lot of interest in the last years [1,2] thanks to the possibility of hosting different inorganic or organic anions that can be intercalated between the mixed metal (e.g., Zn/Al or Mg/Al) hydroxide layers to counterbalance the positive charge of the layer. They find applications in many fields, from pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] to catalysis [10][11][12][13] and polymer additives [14][15][16] to adsorbents for decontamination [17][18][19][20]. The vast possibility of applications in the industry is driving the research toward finding new facile and economically profitable ways to obtain functionalized hydrotalcites [21].…”

“…Iyi et al [22] proposed a method based on nitric acid ethanol-containing solution. This method was then adapted by performing it in a quasi-solid state, similar to the liquid-assisted grinding (LAG) method developed by some of us [15,23,24]. The mechanism of this reaction and its kinetics must be deeply investigated to further understand the process and improve its yield, while, at the same time, reducing the amount of solvents, wastes, and byproducts.…”