Fabrication of polymerizable ZnS nanoparticles in N,N′-dimethylacrylamide and the resulting high refractive index optical materials

Polymerizable ZnS nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated in N,N′-dimethylacrylamide via a novel facile and effective strategy, and a series of transparent bulk nanocomposites were also prepared based on such polymerizable ZnS NPs. The structure, surface chemistry and distribution of the polymerizable ZnS NPs were studied by powder XRD, FTIR, 1H NMR and TEM. The results indicated that we have successfully synthesized the polymerizable ZnS NPs with an average size of 4–5 nm by the innovatory method and the surface of these NPs were terminated with phenyl and vinyl groups which made sure of the good dispersion in the monomers. The polymerizable ZnS NPs could be easily polymerized with the monomers and fabricated a series of bulk nanocomposites. The obtained bulk nanocomposites (3 mm) exhibit good transmittance in the visible range and its refractive index are in the range from 1.527 to 1.598 in 632.8 nm by changing the content of the polymerizable ZnS NPs from 0 to 11.1 wt%. This novel strategy opens a new gate to produce transparent bulk nanocomposites with tunable refractive indices for potential optical device applications.