Investigation of spectroscopic and mechanical properties of dye doped films prepared in different polymer environments

Films obtained by adding luminescence to a polymer matrix are important in the design of functional devices. In particular, sensors are widely used in optical imaging and storage systems and solar cells. One of the points to be considered in these applications is to control the dispersion properties of the luminescence material in the polymer matrix and therefore to provide a homogeneous distribution of the luminescent molecules. For this, the effect of polymer polarity on the fluorescence behaviour of the luminescence material is the first criterion to be studied in film applications. In this study, phenantroimidazole azo derivative was used as a dye compound which doped to the polymer matrix. Dye doped thermoplastic and thermoset polymer films having different polarities, such as polypropylene, polymethylmethacrylate, epoxy and polyester were prepared by using hot press, solvent casting method and glass surface coating techniques. In order to investigate the dye-polymer interactions of the films obtained, fluorescence spectroscopy technique was used and the importance of selecting the polymer medium suitable for the molecular structure of the luminescence material was emphasized. In addition, dynamic mechanical analyses of dye doped polymethylmethacrylate films prepared at different mass % concentrations have been made and the changes have been investigated in order to have information about the mechanical properties of the dye doped polymer films. In addition, surface roughness studies were performed to investigate the effect of dye molecules on polymer surface.