Fabrication and Photophysical Response of Fluorescent Polyolefin-based Fibres and Films Incorporated with Perylene Diimide Derivative (EH-PDI-EH).
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22581/0853Keywords:
Fluorescent Fibres, Perylene Diimide, Melt Spinning, Hot-pressing, Aggregation Quenching, PolyolefinsAbstract
The development of polyolefin-based luminescent materials has received increasing interest due to their potential applications in labeling, flexible electronics, and security marking. However, incorporating small fluorophore agents into commodity polyolefins such as polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) remains challenging due to poor compatibility, dispersion, and photostability. To address these limitations, the perylene diimide (PDI) derivative, N, N′-bis(2-ethylhexyl) perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide, abbreviated as EH-PDI-EH, was chosen as a fluorescent agent and efficiently incorporated into PP and PE polymer matrices. A range of EH-PDI-EH concentrations (0.01wt% to 0.8 wt%) was used to investigate the photophysical properties and compatibility in non-polar polymers. To this end, melt blending, melt spinning, and hot-press techniques were used to fabricate fluorescent films and fibres. The prepared fibres and films were characterized for FTIR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and fluorescence properties. The findings reveal that the host polymer backbones remained chemically stable during the loading of EH-PDI EH without any aggregates. EH-PDI-EH was homogeneously dispersed at low and intermediate dopant levels (0.01wt% to 0.16 wt%), which also showed remarkably intense red emission under UV excitation. Additionally, the emission strength increases proportionally to EH-PDI-EH content, especially in PP, due to its flexible molecular chains. However, the fluorescence quantum yields (Φf) demonstrate higher fluorescence yields at low concentrations (0.01 wt% to 0.04 wt%) of EH-PDI-EH, which proves that EH-PDI-EH serves as an efficient fluorescent dopant for polyolefins, enabling the production of processable luminescent films and fibres suitable for use in advanced photonic and security applications.
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