Preparation and characterization of silicone resin nanocomposite containing CdSe/ZnS quantum dots

We report the preparation of the core/shell cadmium selenide/Zinc sulfide quantum dots (CdSe/ZnS QDs)-silicone resin nanocomposite through the solution-mixing method, followed by thermal hydrosilylation. After dispersing QDs into Dow Corning two-component silicone resins (OE6630A and OE6630B at 1:4 mixing ratio by weight), the resins were cured at 150 degrees C for 1.5 h to produce QD-silicone resin nanocomposites. The curing behavior of the silicone resins resulting from the thermal hydrosilylation was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The properties of the QD-silicone resin nanocomposites were investigated by ultravioletvisible (UVvis), fluorescence, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements. The QDs that contain trioctylamine (TOA) as the original ligand can poison the Pt catalyst in the resins and inhibit the curing process by increasing the exothermic peak temperature, at which a lower heat of hydrosilylation is observed. Incorporating a small amount of CdSe/ZnS QDs (0.1 wt%) can greatly improve the thermal stability of the silicone resins. Moreover, CdSe/ZnS QDs tend to form clusters that are relatively homogeneously distributed in a cured silicone resin, offering good optical properties of 11.2 lm W-1 luminous efficiency and 14.6% photoluminescence conversion efficiency (PCE) in light emitting device (LED) test. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. (c) 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers