Quantum dots arrangement and energy transfer control via charge-transfer complex achieved on poly(phenylene ethynylene)/schizophyllan nanowires.

Assemblies of organic and inorganic compounds in the nanoscale region have contributed to the development of novel functional materials toward future applications, including sensors and opto-electronics. We succeed in fabricating hybrid nanowires composed of a conjugated polymer and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) by a supramolecular assembly technique. The 1-D fashion of the nanowire structure is obtained by the polymer wrapping of cationic poly(phenylene ethynylene) (PPE) with helix-forming polysaccharide schizophyllan (SPG). The electrostatic interaction between cationic PPE and anionic QDs affords the nanowires decorated with QDs. Upon addition of an acceptor molecule, tetranitrofluorenone (TNF), the charge-transfer (CT) complex between PPE and TNF is formed, resulting in energy transfer from the QDs to PPE arising from the induced spectral overlap. Furthermore, the employment of the conjugated polymer allows highly sensitive quenching of the QD's emission by raising the transmission efficiency to the CT complexed electron deficient sites along the polymer backbone.