White light emission from polystyrene under pulsed ultra violet laser irradiation

This paper reports for the first time the luminescent property of polystyrene (PS), produced by pulsed ultra violet laser irradiation. We have discovered that, in air, ultra-violet (UV) irradiated PS nanospheres emit bright white light with the dominant peak at 510 nm, while in vacuum they emit in the near-blue region. From the comparison of PS nanospheres irradiated in vacuum and air, we suggest that the white luminescence is due to the formation of carbonyl groups on the surface of PS by photochemical oxidation. Our results potentially offer a new route and strategy for white light sources.