New Type of Eco-Friendly Polymeric Dye by Covalently Bonding Anthraquinone into Polyphenylsulfone

Eco-friendly polymeric dyes with excellent thermal stability, good mechanical performance, and robust chemical stability are highly desired for their diverse and practical applications in food, medicine, electronics and aerospace, etc. However, it remains a big challenge to develop them. Herein, a novel type of eco-friendly polymeric dye is fabricated by covalently bonding anthraquinone chromophores onto polyphenylsulfone at a molecular level. The obtained polymeric dyes exhibit excellent thermal stability, with a weight loss of 5% at temperatures above 500 degrees C in air and negligible changes in both color appearance and transparency after being treated at 200 degrees C in air for 8h, good mechanical performance with a tensile strength around 70MPa, and robust chemical stability with demonstrated insolubility and very outstanding colorfastness and anti-permeability against strong acidic or basic solutions for 7days at room temperature. These outstanding properties make these polymeric dyes suitable for use in harsh conditions, exceeding existing polymeric dyes, which makes them good to use in some special engineering plastics.