Blue-light-emitting surface-functionalized ZnS nanoparticles and their transparent polymer nanocomposites with near-white light emission

2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-benzoxazol (BOX) functionalized ZnS nanoparticles (ZnS-BOX NPs) with blue-light emission have been successfully synthesized. The ZnS-BOX NPs can be successfully added into the polymer matrix by in situ bulk polymerization to fabricate transparent bulk nanocomposites with good thermal stability. The resulting ZnS-BOX NPs exhibited a blue emission at around 430 nm, and the intensities of the emission peaks depended on the ratio of BOX to ZnS NPs. As ZnS-BOX NPs were integrated into the polymer matrix, the resulting bulk nanocomposites also had the blue-emission at 429 nm. The near white light-emitting bulk nanocomposites were also carried out by introducing rhodamine 6G into the above bulk nanocomposites with ZnS-BOX NPs. The bulk nanocomposites have a similar thermal decomposition curves as the polymer matrix.