Organic Nanoparticles of Cyanine Dye in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Abstract Ion-based organic dye nanoparticles ranging from tens to hundreds of nanometers have been prepared in aqueous solution. The synthetic approach is based on “ion-association” (hydrophobic ion-pair formation) in water between the dye cation pseudoisocyanine (PIC) and the anion tetraphenylborate (TPB) or tetrakis(4-fluorophenyl)borate (TFPB) ion. Size tuning of spherical and amorphous PIC nanoparticles was accomplished by varying the molar ratio (ρ) of the loaded anion to the dye cation. Electrophoretic characterization revealed that the increase in surface adsorption of anions onto PIC particles brings about an increase in the negative surface charge density, causing a reduction in the surface tension and the mean size of nanoparticles. We found that the optical absorption properties of the PIC nanoparticles exhibited (i) matrix dependence, that is, the 0–0 band position of the PIC chromophore within similar-sized nanoparticles was dependent on the type of counter anions used, and (ii) size dependence, i.e., the 0–0 band position of the PIC chromophore was dependent on the mean nanoparticle diameter when the particles were prepared using the same counter anion.