ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Can the size of dye aggregates within polymer brushes be determined with GISANS?

Abstract: A scientific ?grand challenge? over the past two decades has been to achieve efficient long-range transport of excitons (electron-hole pairs formed by the absorption of photons) in molecular materials. We are developing a new approach to the design of molecular photonic materials that combines biologically-inspired design principles with the exciting new physics of strong light-matter coupling. This approach requires anchoring of, and 3D arrangement of dye molecules at interfaces. As such, surface-grafted polymers (a.k.a. brushes) are grown from interfaces and subsequently derivatized with reactive dyes. In a previous proposal we functionalised a polymer brush with a deuterated dye molecule (deuterated Nile Blue, d-NB) and examined the role of reaction conditions and polymer brush structure on the normal distribution of these dyes throughout the brush with reflectometry. Spectroscopic characterisation of these dye-functionalized films has revealed that the dye molecules are aggregated within the films. These techniques do not reveal the extent of, or structure of these aggregates within the film. While neutron reflectometry revealed the normal structure of the film, they do not reveal in-plane structural features. In this proposal we wish to determine the viability of GISANS measurements to quantify dye-aggregate size within the polymer brushes

Experimenter: Dr Gregory Smith
Local Contact: Dr Sarah Rogers
Experimenter: Dr Edwin Johnson
Experimenter: Dr Stephen Hall
Experimenter: Professor Graham Leggett

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2310475

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2310475

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Gregory Smith et al; (2023): Can the size of dye aggregates within polymer brushes be determined with GISANS?, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2310475

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.