Technique encapsulates functional hydrophobic organic molecules
Friday, March 6, 2015 - 06:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Many applications demand the presence of functional organic molecules in environments where they are not stable or even not soluble. A possible way to protect the molecules is encapsulation in materials that provide solubility but do not impair the functionality. In this context, the teams led by Josef Breu, Stephan Förster, Hartmut Yersin, and Geoffrey A. Ozin at the Universities of Bayreuth, Regensburg, and Toronto have produced nanometer-sized double stacks of a transparent silicate material having a central layer of oriented hydrophobic fluorescent dye molecules. The nanoplatelets are well dispersed in aqueous solution, and can be cast into dry films that feature almost perfect texture and are optically anisotropic.