Organic–inorganic nanohybrids based on an AIE luminogen-functional polymer and CdTe/ZnS QDs: morphologies, optical properties, and applications

Nano-light materials have attracted great interest in materials research due to their excellent fluorescent properties. The hybrid assembly of various nano-optical materials combines their advantages, extending the scope of potential applications. Herein, we report a fluorescence organic–inorganic hybrid nanostructure (T-PNI@QDs) based on binding red-emitting CdTe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) to blue-emitting aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active polymeric micelles in aqueous media with dual-channel emission. The AIE-active polymeric micelles were obtained by the self-assembly of thiol-terminated tetraphenylethylene (TPE) functionalized poly(N-isopropylmethacylamide) (T-PNI-SH) in water. An interesting assembly behaviour of transformation from a worm-like to a core–shell structure was observed by controlling the ratio of QDs/polymers due to the coordinated interaction between the QDs and the thiol groups. The dual-emission of T-PNI@QDs has obvious temperature-sensitive behaviour on account of PNIPAM. The novel fluorescent hybrid nanostructure was used as a probe to selectively detect picric acid (PA) in pure water. We expect this work will open up a new perspective for the construction of organic–inorganic hybrids based on different nano-light materials.