Multifunctional polymer nanofibers: UV emission, optical gain, anisotropic wetting and high hydrophobicity for next flexible excitation sources

TL;DR

This paper presents multifunctional UV-emitting electrospun fibers with enhanced optical gain and anisotropic hydrophobicity, suitable for flexible light sources, microlasers, and smart surfaces in microfluidic and wearable devices.

Contribution

Introduction of novel electrospun fibers with combined UV emission, optical gain, and anisotropic wetting properties, advancing flexible optoelectronic and smart surface applications.

Findings

Fibers exhibit low gain threshold and optical losses.

Enhanced anisotropic hydrophobicity compared to films.

Suitable for flexible UV light-emitting devices and microlasers.

Abstract

The use of UV light sources is highly relevant in many fields of science, being directly related to all those detection and diagnosis procedures which are based on fluorescence spectroscopy. Depending on the specific application, UV light-emitting materials are desired to feature a number of opto-mechanical properties, including brightness, optical gain for being used in laser devices, flexibility to conform with different lab-on-chip architectures, and tailorable wettability to control and minimize their interaction with ambient humidity and fluids. In this work, we introduce multifunctional, UV-emitting electrospun fibers with both optical gain and anisotropic hydrophobicity greatly enhanced compared to films. Fibers are described by the onset of a composite wetting state and their arrangement in uniaxial arrays further favours liquid directional control. The low gain threshold and optical losses, the plastic nature and the flexibility and stability of these UV-emitting fibers make them interesting for building light-emitting devices and microlasers. Furthermore, the found anisotropic hydrophobicity is strongly synergic with optical properties, reducing interfacial interactions with liquids and enabling smart functional surfaces for droplet microfluidic and wearable applications.