Moldable Carbon Dot-Linked Elastomers for Three-Dimensional Arbitrary Fluorescent Structures

The integration of photoluminescent nanomaterials with a polymer matrix provides profitable chemical functionalities for the modern three-dimensional (3D) structure creation. Aiming at homogeneous nanomaterial generations inside moldable polymers, we report a direct carbon dot (CD) synthesis in a polydimethylsiloxane elastomer base. This approach is solvent-free without the need of dehydrating and condensation processes, enabling delicate solid 3D microstructure construction with minimal CD photoluminescence influence. The solubility of precursor species in an elastomer gel base plays the key role in generating photoluminescent nanomaterials inside a polymer matrix. This CD-linked elastomer prepared from (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS), therefore, exhibits higher fluorescence emission than that generated from the aminopropane precursor. Compared to propyltrimethoxysilane, the amino group-containing APTMS precursor provides nitrogen doping in produced CDs, accompanying an enhanced photoluminescence property. These moldable CD-linked elastomers entail a quantum yield of 7.2% and can be applied to create various structures and patterns on diverse substrates. Taking the anti-counterfeiting application as an example, the material offers the hybrid encoded information of chemical photoluminescence and physical structures to enhance the encryption level. This in situ CD generation in the polymer base approach enables arbitrary 3D structure creation with minimized fluorescence self-quenching effects.