Using novel polymer microspheres as an efficient UV filter and blue
light converter for constructing multifunctional transparent polyvinyl
alcohol film
Abstract
A novel polymer microsphere with both UV-shielding and
blue-light-emitting characteristics was fabricated by grafting disodium
4,4’-bis[(4-anilino-6-hydroxyethylamino-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl) amino]
stilbene-2,2’-disulphonate (VBL) onto poly (maleic anhydride-co-α-methyl
styrene) (PMAS) microspheres via esterification reaction. The
as-prepared PMAS-VBL microspheres were then incorporated into polyvinyl
alcohol (PVA) to prepare composite films. The introduction of PMAS-VBL
endowed PVA with excellent UV-shielding and fluorescent properties,
which mainly derived from UV-to-blue light converting ability of VBL.
PVA films containing 7 wt% PMAS-VBL microspheres can block almost 100%
UV light while the visible light transmittance was maintained at 66.9%
and absolute quantum yield of the films reached up to 74.26%. This work
opens up a new pathway for fabricating UV-filters and blue light
converter, which are very promising for a diversity of UV-shielding and
fluorescence-based applications.