Tunable Thermofluorochromic Sensors Based on Conjugated Polymers

Abstract

Even though thermofluorochromic materials are eternal candidates for their use in multiple applications, they are still limited as they require complex synthetic strategies to accomplish tunable optical properties and/or provide optical changes only over a very wide temperature range. By taking advantage of the high sensitivity of the optical properties of conjugated polymers and oligomers to the external environment, herein phase change material (PCM)-based thermofluorochromic mixtures are created, where the solid-to-liquid transition of the PCM host triggers a sharp fluorescence color change of the dispersed polymers/oligomers. Fluorophore conjugation length, concentration, and PCM nature can be used to vary the spectral properties of the resulting materials along the visible region, covering a large part of the CIE 1931 color space. For the preparation of functional devices, this behavior can be directly transferred to the solid state by soaking or printing cellulose papers with the obtained thermofluorochromic mixtures as well as by structuring them into solid lipid particles that can be dispersed within polymer matrices. The resulting materials show very promising features as thermal sensors and anticounterfeiting labels.