Preparation and multicolored fluorescent properties of CdTe quantum dots/polymethylmethacrylate composite films

Abstract

A new simple route was presented for the preparation of stable fluorescent CdTe/polymethylmethacrylate (CdTe/PMMA) composite films by using hydrophilic thioglycolic acid capped CdTe quantum dots (TGA-CdTe QDs) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as raw materials. The TGA-CdTe QDs were firstly exchanged with n-dodecanethiol (DDT) to become hydrophobic DDT-CdTe QDs via a ligand exchange strategy, and then incorporated into PMMA matrix to obtain fluorescent CdTe/PMMA composite films. The structure and optical properties of DDT-CdTe QDs and CdTe/PMMA composite films were investigated by XRD, IR, UV and PL techniques. The results indicated that the obtained DDT-CdTe QDs well preserved the intrinsic structure and the maximum emission wavelength of the initial water-soluble QDs and the resulting 6.10 wt% CdTe/PMMA composite film exhibited significantly enhanced PL intensity. Furthermore, the multicolored composite films with green, yellow-green, yellow and orange light emissions were well tuned by incorporating the CdTe QDs of various maximum emission wavelengths. The TEM image demonstrated that the CdTe QDs were well-dispersed in the PMMA matrix without aggregation. Superior photostability of QDs in the composite film was confirmed by fluorescence lifetime measurement. Thermo-gravimetric analysis of CdTe/PMMA composite films showed no obvious enhancement of thermal stability compared with pure PMMA.