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Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative

[Image: see text] A key challenge in the recycling of multilayer plastic films of polyethylene and polyamide, as typically used for food packaging, is to assess and control the phase separation of the two types of polymers in the recycled material, the specifics of which determine the mechanical str...

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Autores principales: Hsu, Chao-Chun, Rückel, Markus, Bonn, Daniel, Brouwer, Albert M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2023
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10586370/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37788122
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c01976
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author Hsu, Chao-Chun
Rückel, Markus
Bonn, Daniel
Brouwer, Albert M.
author_facet Hsu, Chao-Chun
Rückel, Markus
Bonn, Daniel
Brouwer, Albert M.
author_sort Hsu, Chao-Chun
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] A key challenge in the recycling of multilayer plastic films of polyethylene and polyamide, as typically used for food packaging, is to assess and control the phase separation of the two types of polymers in the recycled material, the specifics of which determine the mechanical strength of the recycled material. However, visualizing the polyamide-in-polyethylene domains with conventional fluorescence methods or electron microscopy is challenging. We present a new approach that combines the point accumulation in nanoscale topography (PAINT) super-resolution method with a newly synthesized Nile Red probe (diOHNR) as the fluorescent label. The molecule was modified to undergo a hydrogen bond-assisted interaction with the polyamide phase in the blend due to its two additional hydroxyl groups but preserves the spectral properties of Nile Red. As a result, the localization density of the probe in the PAINT image is 13 times larger at the polyamide phase than at the polyethylene phase, enabling quantitative evaluation of the spatial polyamide/polyethylene distribution down to the nanoscale. The method achieved a spatial resolution of 18.8 nm, and we found that over half of the polyamide particles in a recycled sample were smaller than the optical diffraction limit. Being able to image the blends with nanoscopic resolution can help to optimize the composition and mechanical properties of recycled materials and thus contribute to an increased reuse of plastics.
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spelling pubmed-105863702023-10-20 Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative Hsu, Chao-Chun Rückel, Markus Bonn, Daniel Brouwer, Albert M. Langmuir [Image: see text] A key challenge in the recycling of multilayer plastic films of polyethylene and polyamide, as typically used for food packaging, is to assess and control the phase separation of the two types of polymers in the recycled material, the specifics of which determine the mechanical strength of the recycled material. However, visualizing the polyamide-in-polyethylene domains with conventional fluorescence methods or electron microscopy is challenging. We present a new approach that combines the point accumulation in nanoscale topography (PAINT) super-resolution method with a newly synthesized Nile Red probe (diOHNR) as the fluorescent label. The molecule was modified to undergo a hydrogen bond-assisted interaction with the polyamide phase in the blend due to its two additional hydroxyl groups but preserves the spectral properties of Nile Red. As a result, the localization density of the probe in the PAINT image is 13 times larger at the polyamide phase than at the polyethylene phase, enabling quantitative evaluation of the spatial polyamide/polyethylene distribution down to the nanoscale. The method achieved a spatial resolution of 18.8 nm, and we found that over half of the polyamide particles in a recycled sample were smaller than the optical diffraction limit. Being able to image the blends with nanoscopic resolution can help to optimize the composition and mechanical properties of recycled materials and thus contribute to an increased reuse of plastics. American Chemical Society 2023-10-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10586370/ /pubmed/37788122 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c01976 Text en © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Permits the broadest form of re-use including for commercial purposes, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Hsu, Chao-Chun
Rückel, Markus
Bonn, Daniel
Brouwer, Albert M.
Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative
title Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative
title_full Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative
title_fullStr Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative
title_full_unstemmed Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative
title_short Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Recycled Polymer Blends via Hydrogen Bond-Assisted Adsorption of a Nile Red Derivative
title_sort super-resolution fluorescence imaging of recycled polymer blends via hydrogen bond-assisted adsorption of a nile red derivative
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10586370/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37788122
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c01976
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