High mechanical and luminescent properties of polyethylene terephthalate doped with Eu3+-induced nanoaggregates of polystyrene-block-polyacrylic acid

Luminescent complexes containing rare-earth metal ion centers can impart enhanced properties and new functions to engineered materials. In this work, Eu3+-induced polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) nanoaggregates (EIPAs) are blended into polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at 0.25 to 4 wt%. PET is an easily processed and cost-effective flexible polymeric material with good mechanical properties, optical transparency, and thermal stability. The resulting EIPAs-doped PET (EIPAs@PET) blends exhibit excellent luminescence compared to other Eu3+ complexes, and a long luminescent lifetime (up to 782 μs). Furthermore, the EIPAs induce nucleation of PET in EIPAs@PET. Furthermore, the EIPAs induce nucleation of PET. The crystallization temperature increased by 16.2 °C (from 186.7 to 202.9 °C), the melting enthalpy (ΔHm) increased from 31.8 J/g to 45.1 J/g, and the relative crystallinity rose from 26.4 % to 37.6 %.This enhanced crystallinity of EIPAs@PET results in an increased tensile modulus (from 61.27 MPa to 81.19 MPa) and elongation at break (from 158.93 % to 236.29 %), which shows that both intensity and flexibility were highly improved. It is notable that EIPAs can effectively generate the excellent luminescence property and highly enhance the mechanical property to PET. This work presents a strategic approach to the development of high-performance polyester composites with integrated structural and fluorescent properties.