Regulating the absorption spectrum of polydopamine

Yuan Zou; Xiaofeng Chen; Peng Yang; Guijie Liang; Ye Yang; Zhipeng Gu; Yiwen Li

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb4696

Regulating the absorption spectrum of polydopamine

Sci Adv. 2020 Sep 4;6(36):eabb4696. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb4696. Print 2020 Sep.

Authors

Yuan Zou¹, Xiaofeng Chen¹, Peng Yang¹, Guijie Liang², Ye Yang³, Zhipeng Gu¹, Yiwen Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
² Hubei Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441053, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
⁴ College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China. ywli@scu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Polydopamine (PDA) has been increasingly exploited as an advanced functional material, and its emergent light absorption property plays a crucial role in determining various utilizations. However, the rational design and efficient regulation of PDA absorption property remain a challenge due to the complex structure within PDA. In this work, we propose a facile method to regulate the light absorption behaviors of PDA by constructing donor-acceptor pairs within the microstructures through the chemical connections between indoledihydroxy/indolequinone and their oligomers with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl moiety. The detailed structural and spectral analysis, as well as the density functional theory simulation, further confirms the existence of donor-acceptor molecular pair structures, which could decrease the energy bandgap and increase the electron delocalization for enhancing light absorption across a broad spectrum. These rationally designed PDA nanoparticles with tunable absorption properties also show improved total photothermal effect and demonstrate excellent performances in solar desalination.

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