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Thursday, 1 May 2014

New fluorescent hybrid material changes color according to direction of light

The UPV/EHU's Molecular Spectroscopy Group, in collaboration with the Institute of Catalysis and Petroleum Chemistry of the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), has developed a highly fluorescent hybrid material that changes colour depending on the polarisation of the light that it is illuminated by. 

The research has been published in ACS Photonics, the new journal devoted exclusively to Photonics published by the American Chemical Society.

The aim with respect to hybrid materials with one organic component and another inorganic one is to combine the best attributes of each one into a single system. 

Labs across the world are working to develop new hybrid materials for technological applications in nanotechnologies, in particular, and these materials are already being used in lightweight materials for cars, sports equipment, in biomimetic materials, like prostheses, etc.


Left: CIE system or chromaticity diagram to characterise the colours.
Above right: green emission obtained using linearly polarised light along the channels. Below right: blue emission obtained using light linearly perpendicular to the channels. NB: the arrows indicate the direction in the polarisation of the light used.