Hetero-Telechelic Dye-Labeled Polymer for Nanoparticle Decoration

The synthesis of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) exhibiting one fluorescent dye (Texas Red) and one methyl disulfide end group is described. It is shown that the latter end group enabled the exchange of both oleic amine on gold nanoparticles (AuNP) and of oleic acid on CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QD), allowing for a phase transfer of both types of nanoparticles (NP) from hexane into dimethylformamide due to the solubility provided by the PMMA chains. For AuNP, a fluorescence quenching of the dye was found due to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the dye to the AuNP, while QDs caused a fluorescence enhancement by FRET from the QD to the attached dyes. Due to the hetero-telecheli…

Energy and charge transfer in nanoscale hybrid materials.

Hybrid materials composed of colloidal semiconductor quantum dots and π-conjugated organic molecules and polymers have attracted continuous interest in recent years, because they may find applications in bio-sensing, photodetection, and photovoltaics. Fundamental processes occurring in these nanohybrids are light absorption and emission as well as energy and/or charge transfer between the components. For future applications it is mandatory to understand, control, and optimize the wide parameter space with respect to chemical assembly and the desired photophysical properties. Accordingly, different approaches to tackle this issue are described here. Simple organic dye molecules (Dye)/quantum…

Dual Functionalization of Nanostructures of Block Copolymers with Quantum Dots and Organic Fluorophores