High dispersion and fluorescence of anthracene doped in polyphenylsiloxane films

Abstract

Phenylsilsesquioxane-diphenylsiloxane glass thick films doped with anthracene were prepared from homogeneous coating sols obtained from two different approaches. One approach consisted in incorporating the dye during the glass preparation (which implies the incorporation of the dye in an aqueous media). The doped-glass was further dissolved in the solvents mixture composed of cyclohexane and acetone. The other approach which is non-aqueous consisted simply in dissolving directly the preformed non-doped polyphenylsiloxane glass in the dye solutions. The stability of the organic-inorganic hybrid glass matrix in most organic solvents makes possible the incorporation of the dye without problems of miscibility and dispersion in the hybrid matrix. The coating was performed at room temperature using spin-coating technique prior to further heat-treatment. Crack-free and homogeneous films of high optical quality were obtained. The optical properties of the doped films based on their absorption and emission spectra were discussed owing the incorporation route of the dye. The results showed that the non-aqueous approach used to incorporate the dye minimizes the dye aggregation. This property associated to the preparation route permits to obtain optically active hybrid films loaded with high concentrations of anthracene (in the order of 10⁻² M) which enhance the fluorescence of the doped films. The hybrid doped-films obtained represent therefore a tremendous potential for applications in the field of optics and photonics including the development of new nonlinear optical materials.