We disclose a green, cost and time effective approach to impart photoluminescent properties to a range of polymeric materials, an otherwise solvent-intensive and tedious process. Our strategy relies on the thermal treatment of ethanolamine (a carbon and nitrogen-rich precursor) well dispersed within a polymer matrix and gives rise to fluorescent C-dot based nanocomposites, without compromising the physicochemical characteristics of the matrix. The strategy affords at least 20% conversion of the precursor towards fluorescent nanoparticles, eliminates the use of toxic chemicals and is thoroughly compatible with melt processing technologies routinely used in industry. While we focus here on polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) nanocomposites, the approach is general and applicable to a variety of thermally stable polymers. The C-dots formed in situ within the PEG matrix have diameters in the range 1–40 nm (as revealed by TEM) and exhibit quantum yield 11% in water compared to 3% for the PE-derived nanoparticles.

我们公开了一种绿色，节省成本和时间的有效方法，以赋予一系列聚合物材料以光致发光性能，否则将耗费大量溶剂且乏味。我们的策略依赖于对乙醇胺（富含碳和氮的前体）充分分散在聚合物基质中的热处理，并产生了基于荧光C-dot的纳米复合材料，而不会损害基质的理化特性。该策略可将前体至少转化为荧光纳米粒子20％，消除了有毒化学物质的使用，并且与工业上常规使用的熔融加工技术完全兼容。尽管我们在此重点介绍聚乙烯（PE），聚丙烯（PP）和聚乙二醇（PEG）纳米复合材料，该方法是通用的，并且适用于各种热稳定的聚合物。形成的C点PEG基质中原位的直径范围为1–40 nm（通过TEM揭示），在水中的量子产率为11％，而PE衍生的纳米颗粒的量子产率为3％。