Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.53, No.28, 11326-11332, 2014
Encapsulation of Quantum Dot Clusters in Stimuli-Responsive Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes
Novel fluorescence-labeled spherical polyelectrolyte brushes consisting of a fluorescent polystyrene (PS) nanocomposite core and a poly(acylic acid) (PAA) brush shell were successfully prepared. Quantum dots (QDs) were well confined in the PS core through hybrid emulsion polymerization. PAA chains were then grafted onto the surface of the fluorescent PS core to form a brush structure through photoemulsion polymerization. The obtained fluorescent spherical polyelectrolyte brushes are highly pH sensitive in addition to their excellent dispersibility in water. Fluorescent nanoclusters were introduced into spherical polyelectrolyte brushes to acquire high sensitive detection in the applications of spherical polyelectrolyte brushes as catalyst tracer, as biosensor, and in protein coding.