Preparation and properties of polymer and quantum dot composites

Abstract

Quantum dots (QDs) were prepared in an organic system through a simple and low-cost wet chemistry method. Polymer beads with a diameter of 60 70 nm and specific functional groups were synthesized by a particular seeded emulsion polymerization technique. QDs were embedded in the polymer beads with the specific functional groups through dissolving and swelling method, which provided the condition for the conjunction of biomolecules and QDs as fluorescent probes. The prepared composites were characterized with UV-Vis, PL, TEM, FTIR, CLSM and conductance titration etc. The results show that QDs are successfully embedded in polymer beads, which breaks the limitation that the conjunction of biomolecules and QDs can be achieved only for those synthesized in aqueous system.

Keywords

quantum dots (QDs), polymer beads, fluorescence, seeded emulsion