X-ray radioluminescent crystalline colloidal arrays (CCAs) with highly tunable emission colors are synthesized using an emulsion polymerization procedure. An anthracene monomer is copolymerized with styrene and propargyl acrylate monomers to generate a CCA that exhibits the typical luminescence characteristics of anthracene (Anth). These nanoparticles are able to spontaneously self-assemble into FCC structures due to the electrostatic repulsive forces between the particles. By synthesizing highly stable, monodisperse colloidal particles that exhibit X-ray radioluminescence (RL), the intensity of emitted light from the particulate system can be manipulated by photonic means. The rejection wavelength of the CCA can be shifted across the visible spectrum by the addition or removal of DI water which corresponds to a change in the interplanar spacing. When the rejection wavelength of the CCA is outside of the RL spectra, typical Anth emission behavior is detected with an emission spanning 400 – 515 nm and a maximum at 420 nm. When the rejection wavelength is within the RL spectra of the CCA, a decrease in spontaneous emission is observed. In this system, the decrease in spontaneous emission corresponding to the rejection wavelength of the CCA can be shifted across the RL spectra of Anth. Furthermore, the color of emitted light from the CCA can be adjusted to span the visible spectrum by incorporating organic fluorophores that form Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) pairs with each other and the scintillator. A naphthalimide derivative that absorbs in the blue region where Anth emits can be integrated within the particles such that the CCA possesses an overall green emission with a maximum at 535 nm. Additionally, a rhodamine B derivative that absorbs in the green region where naphthalimide emits can be integrated within the green-emitting particles such that the CCA possesses an overall red emission with a maximum at 630 nm. The color of emitted light from the green- and red-emitting CCAs can similarly be manipulated by photonic means to fine-tune the emission of the liquid systems.

Radioluminescent crystalline colloidal arrays: Fine-tuning color characteristics via X-ray induced, sequential Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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