Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 11, 2026

Fabrication and Testing of Photonic Thermometers
Published on: October 24, 2018
Unimolecular thermometers: core-shell polymer bottlebrushes with solvatochromic responses to temperature
Chenyou Zhang1, Simran D Kerai1, Tom Hawtrey2,3,4
1Key Centre for Polymers and Colloids, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. markus.muellner@sydney.edu.au.
None:
Core-shell molecular polymer bottlebrushes (MPBs) were designed with a thermoresponsive poly(DEGMA) core and stabilising poly(PEGMA) shell. Solvatochromic fluorophores embedded in the core report polarity changes as it dehydrates and collapses upon heating, yielding a distinct fluorescence response. These stable, unimolecular nanostructures function as aqueous nanoscale sensors.
Related Concept Videos
Constant Volume Calorimetry
Titration in Nonaqueous Solvents
Constant Pressure Calorimetry
Thermometers and Temperature Scales
As many physical properties depend on temperature, the variety of thermometers is...
Thermosensation
Thermal Sigmatropic Reactions: Overview
Sigmatropic shifts are classified based on an order term [i, j ], where i and j indicate the number of atoms across which each end of the σ bond migrates. Below are examples of a [3,3] sigmatropic shift in 1,5-hexadiene, referred...

