Tuneable, recyclable, light-emitting plastics

What is it about?

Mixing inorganic and organic materials can produce materials with the perfect mix of useful properties. For example, mixing light-emitting metal complexes into plastics can produce robust light-emitting materials. A challenge here is that often the metal complex is not soluble in the plastic, so clumps form that make the plastic cloudy. We have taken a new approach by adding a metal-binding site to the plastic, and then adding the metal. This avoids the solubility problem completely.

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Why is it important?

This paper reports a new approach to making light-emitting hydrid materials, that avoids the solubility problems that often arise when combining inorganic and organic components. The most important aspect of the work is that it will allow us to study how these materials behave as we load up the light-emitting metal complex to higher and higher levels. This can't be done with most existing systems, and will help us understand fundamental properties, ultimately leading to more efficient devices.