Photon upconversion (UC) is becoming increasingly important in enhancing the efficiency of solar-based technologies as well as in pioneering unconventional biophotonic applications, owing to its capability of converting lower energy photons into one higher energy photon. This research reports a fabrication technique of highly efficient 3D-printable upconverting polymer blends for the first time. The polymer blend of two biocompatible polymers – polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic acid (PLA) – in conjunction with the benchmark red-to-blue UC chromophore pair (PdTPBP/perylene) was precisely prepared aiming to generate UC emission (~470 nm) under 635 nm laser irradiation. After the characterization process of photochemical and physical properties, the PCL/PLA polymer blend with UC pair was manipulated in the form of filaments to be used in a commercially available 3D-printer. The prepared UC filaments exhibit high flexibility and fair mechanical properties to be used in 3D-printer and shape-controlled upconverting 3D-matrices were successfully fabricated. The 3D-printed architecture showed intense UC emission even under ultra-low excitation power such as a commercial LED light source and moderate photochemical stability due to its low oxygen-permeability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing 3D-printable upconverting polymer blend that can be readily shape-controlled, thus paving the new way toward various applications in solar and biophotonic devices by integrating UC materials with complex 3D shapes.

3D-printable high efficiency upconverting polymer blends

2019 Fall National Meeting

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