Photoluminescence study of the surface modified and MEH-PPV coated cotton fibers

In this paper, we report a study on the photoluminescence properties of pure cotton fibers from chemically surface and morphology modified and coated with MEH-PPV polymer samples by dip-coating method. The treated and coated fibers surfaces were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), luminescence and FT-IR spectroscopy. The SEM photos showed that cotton fiber surface was covered by a layer of MEH-PPV with the thickness around 1 μm. The effects on the crystalline structure and photoluminescence (PL) were studied as a function of the alkali modification conditions. It was found that the blue light intensity of the mercerized and bleached specimen is approximately two orders higher than the scoured one. The performance of fibers with MEH-PPV polymer as a coating component was investigated and an excellent white-light emission which consists of blue-, green-, and red-light-emitting bands was demonstrated.