Fabrication of fluorescent nanowires via high-energy particles-triggered polymerization reactions

Abstract

Highly fluorescent nanowires were produced quantitatively by one-for-one reactions between a high energy charged particle and fluorescent organic molecules via efficient solid-state polymerization reactions. The initiation and propagation reactions take place non-homogeneously along the trajectories of the particles within nm-sized cylindrical area, thus giving uniform nanowires with controlled sizes after isolation by removing non-irradiated (unreacted) molecules by organic solvents. Highly emissive properties of the nanowires even after isolation were clearly observed similar to their initial films, indicating that the polymerization process might not spoil the efficient fluorescent framework of the compound: excited state intra-molecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process. We also demonstrated that the fluorescent nanowires have potential of sensing the trace amount of nitrobenzene that was monitored by fluorescence spectroscopy.