Optically switchable organic hollow nanocapsules.
Ying Wu, Xiaozhong Qu, Liyan Huang, Dong Qiu, Chengliang Zhang, Zhengping Liu, Zhenzhong Yang, Lin Feng
Institute of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of College of Chemistry, BNU Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly and Functional Polymer Materials, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Journal of colloid and interface science 2010 Mar 1Hollow nanocapsules with both photoswitchable-fluorescent and reversible-photochromic properties are synthesized via a one-pot non-templating microemulsion copolymerization using methyl methacrylate and methacrylated spiropyran as co-monomers. The strong photoswitchable fluorescence of the nanocapsules are switched between "on" and "off" by alternating irradiation of ultraviolet and visible light, which causes the reversible photoisomerization between spiropyran and merocyanine in the nanocapsules. The distribution of spiropyran/merocyanine in a nanocapsule is mostly incorporated inside the wall of the nanocapsule, with only about 17.7% on the surface of the wall. This confinement is the reason of the unusually strong fluorescence of the merocyanine form yielded by the UV radiation. For the same reason, the photochemical stability of the chromophores is increased compared to those in the solution of water/DMF mixture. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Citation
Ying Wu, Xiaozhong Qu, Liyan Huang, Dong Qiu, Chengliang Zhang, Zhengping Liu, Zhenzhong Yang, Lin Feng. Optically switchable organic hollow nanocapsules. Journal of colloid and interface science. 2010 Mar 1;343(1):155-61
PMID: 20018294
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