AC-Electrospinning Nanofibers from Polyelectrolyte–PEGylated Quantum Dot Complex Coacervates

Abstract

Luminescent nanofibers have emerged popularly in our contemporary scientific community because of their potential applications in developing flexible displays, smart wearable fabrics, and fluorescent printing. However, incorporating luminescent materials, such as inorganic and organic fluorophores, into polymeric fibers remains practically challenging. Here, we have investigated a facile and rapid alternating current (AC)-electrospinning process to fabricate luminescent, flexible, and ultralong fibers through multicomponent complex coacervates of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-capped cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). Polymer–QD composite fibers of diameter ranging from approximately 0.6–1.5 μm can be effectively controlled by electrospun jets by varying the applied AC-voltage and frequency. Fluorescence microscopic characterization of the resulting nanofibers confirms the bright and homogeneous luminescence of the integrated CdTe QDs, indicating their uniform distribution along the entire length of the nanofibers. This study showcases the exploitation of multicomponent complex coacervates to assimilate highly photostable QDs in flexible polymeric nanofibers for broad biomedical and nanotechnological applications.