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Enhancement of light scattering and photoluminescence in electrospun polymer nanofibers

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Abstract

Poly(methyl methacrylate) nanofibers with desired fiber diameters that ranged from 336 to 896 nm were electrospun as light scattering and propagation materials. The light scattering behavior of these samples as a function of the fiber diameter and fiber deposition thickness was examined by UV-vis spectrophotometry, which revealed the scattering bands in the absorption spectra. The scattering bands of these nanofibers were linearly proportional to the fiber diameter, which shows good agreement with a scattering model based on the Mie theory. The light scattering and prolonged light path lengths in the nanofiber scaffolds were monitored and quantified by the photoluminescence of a fluorescent dye, Coumarin 6, which was preloaded into the polymer nanofibers. The photoluminescence after proper normalization showed a second-order dependence on the dye loading per unit area, which is significantly different from the spin-coated thin-film samples following a first-order relationship. Nonlinear photoluminescence enhancements indicated prolonged light path lengths and multiple light absorptions within the fiber scaffolds as a result of light scattering. Even with relatively broad scattering band widths, the light scattering and photoluminescence of the electrospun nanofibers exhibited considerable wavelength selectivity, especially as the scattering bands overlapped with the excitation wavelengths of the fluorescence reagent.

©2010 Optical Society of America

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Figures (8)

Fig. 1
Fig. 1 SEM images and diameter distributions of the electrospun PMMA nanofibers.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2 Scattering spectra for the four electrospun PMMA nanofibers and the absorption spectrum of the spin-coated PMMA film (bottom).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3 Scattering spectrum for sample PMMA-14 and the corresponding simulation spectra (c and d group). The inserted image illustrates the linear relationships between the scattering bands and the average fiber diameter for both the experiment (a) and the simulation (b).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4 Scattering spectra for the six PMMA-C6-14 nanofibers that were electrospun from 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, and 200-μl solutions (spectra a to f). The insert shows the intensities of the scattering bands from four electrospun PMMA-C6 samples as a function of the PMMA or C6 deposition (mg/cm2). With no scattering bands, the profile of the PMMA-C6 films illustrated the C6 absorption at 455 nm.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5 Photoluminescence spectra for the PMMA-C6-14 nanofibers that were electrospun from 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, and 200-μl solutions (spectra a to f).
Fig. 6
Fig. 6 Photoluminescence intensities of the electrospun and spin-coated PMMA-C6 samples as a function of the PMMA or C6 deposition (mg/cm2). The right axis represents the effective light path length that was obtained from the P L calculations.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7 Light path length ratios of the electrospun PMMA-C6 nanofibers compared to their spin-coated counter-samples with the same C6 loadings per unit area.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8 Second-order coefficient (α) versus the scattering bands of the electrospun PMMA-C6 nanofibers. The excitation spectrum that is shown above was recorded by monitoring the C6 emission at 494 nm.

Tables (1)

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Table 1 Electrospinning formulas and the average diameters of the electrospun PMMA and PMMA-C6 fibers.

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