Fluorescence, thermal and mechanical properties of PMMA-CdSe QD film

In the present paper an effort has been made to investigate processing and characterization of composite poly (methyl methacrylate)-cadmium selenide (PMMA-CdSe). Thin films of pure PMMA and composites with 0.06 % wt. CdSe quantum dots nanoparticles were made using solution casting method. Characterization of starting components and composites was performed in order to obtain information of their morphology, structure, thermal stability, mechanical and optical properties. Nanoindentation revealed mechanical improvements with the addition of the crystal through reduced elastic modulus and hardness values. DSC analysis has shown an increase in T-g for composite with CdSe. Optical studies by time resolved laser induced fluorescence (TR-LIF) showed that the size-tunable optical properties can be achieved in the polymer films by addition of quantum dots.