Fabrication of luminescent polymeric nanoparticles doped with a lanthanide complex by self-organization process

Recently, a simple method for preparation of polymeric particles with narrow size distribution, “self-organized particle precipitation method”, has been developed. This method is composed of two steps: firstly a solution of a matrix polymer in a volatile solvent is gradually diluted with a freely miscible poor solvent; then the volatile solvent is gradually evaporated from the mixture. In this work, we report preparation of luminescent polystyrene nanoparticles with narrow size distribution from THF solution of polystyrene and trivalent europium, terbium, and samarium complexes as lumophores. Compared with the polystyrene nanoparticles doped with a lanthanide complex possessing no phenyl group, the polystyrene nanoparticles doped with a complex possessing phenyl groups were highly and uniformly luminescent under ultraviolet light irradiation.