New polymer additives for photoelectric sensing

A new class of additives for thermoplastic polymers able to make them high luminescent under UV-light exposure has been developed. Such property is strictly needed in the industry to allow polymeric material detection by luminescent sensors. Highly luminescent molecular gold clusters and nano-sized CdS and ZnS particles have been generated in thermoplastic polymers (amorphous polystyrene, polycarbonate, poly(vinyl acetate), etc.) by thermal decomposition of dissolved mercaptides (i.e., Au(I) dodecyl-mercaptide, Cd(II) dodecyl-mercaptide and Zn-dodecyl mercaptide, respectively). The PL spectra of polymeric films embedding these cluster types show intensive light emission whose frequency depends on the cluster type. The formation of molecular gold clusters and very small CdS and ZnS nanoparticles is probably related to the viscous nature of reaction medium which significantly limit cluster from growth.