Luminescence of Terbium (III) Complexes Incorporated in Carboxylic Acid Functionalized Polystyrene/BaTiO₃ Nanocomposites

Abstract

Luminescence nanocomposites based on barium titanate nanoparticles (BaTiO₃), polystyrene (PSt), and terbium ion (Tb³⁺) were synthesized by using a combination of reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization, Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction and coordination chemistry. The modification of the surface of BaTiO₃ was conducted by an exchange process with S-benzyl S’-trimethoxysilylpropyltrithiocarbonate to anchor macro-initiators for the polymerization of styrene. Subsequently, PSt grafted barium titanate was functionalized by the substitution reaction between 4-(chloromethyl) benzoic acid and PSt to produce hybrids, BaTiO₃-g-PSt -COOH. The coordination of the hybrids with Tb³⁺ ions in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) afforded fluorescent Tb³⁺ tagged carboxylic acid functionalized polystyrene/barium titanate (BaTiO₃-g-PSt-Tb³⁺-Phen). FT-IR, XRD, TGA, and SEM analyses revealed the formation of BaTiO₃-g-PSt-Tb³⁺-Phen hybrids. The optical properties of BaTiO­₃-g-PSt-Tb³⁺-Phen were investigated by using fluorescence spectroscopy.

Keywords:

• Luminescence
• RAFT polymerization
• Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction
• rare earth element

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Technology Innovation Program (No. 10052923, The Development of Light Extraction Complex Substrate for Curved-OLED Lighting with High-CRI) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy.