Controlling photochromism between fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomer/polyaniline and N,N'-diphenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine nanocomposites induced by UV-light-responsive titanium oxide nanoparticles

Abstract Colloidal stable fluoroalkyl end-capped 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethanesulfonic acid oligomer [R F -(MES) n -R F ]/polyaniline[ PAn ]/TiO 2 nanocomposites and R F -(MES) n -R F / An-dimer ( An-dimer : N , N ′-diphenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine)/TiO 2 nanocomposites were prepared by the interactions of TiO 2 nanoparticles with R F -(MES) n -R F / PAn nanocomposites or R F -(MES) n -R F / An-dimer nanocomposites, which were prepared by the composite reaction of R F -(MES) n -R F oligomer with PAn or An-dimer . These two types of fluorinated TiO 2 nanocomposites can exhibit quite different photochromic behaviors: R F -(MES) n -R F / PAn /TiO 2 nanocomposites can exhibit a reversible wavelength change for polaron absorptions around 760–820 nm by alternation of UV irradiation and storage in the dark; in contrast, R F -(MES) n -R F / An-dimer /TiO 2 nanocomposites can exhibit a reversible color change from blue to colorless (a reversible absorbance change) by the similar treatment.