Europium (III) organic complexes in porous boron nitride microfibers: Efficient hybrid luminescent material

Abstract

We report the design and synthesis of a novel kind of organic-inorganic hybrid material via the incorporation of europium (III) β-diketonate complexes (Eu(TTA) 3, TTA = 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone) into one-dimensional (1D) porous boron nitride (BN) microfibers. The developed Eu(TTA) 3 @BN hybrid composites with typical 1D fibrous morphology exhibit bright visible red-light emission on UV illumination. The confinement of Eu(TTA) 3 within pores of BN microfibers not only decreases the aggregation-caused quenching in solid Eu(TTA) 3, but also improves their thermal stabilities. Moreover, The strong interactions between Eu(TTA) 3 and porous BN matrix result in an interesting energy transfer process from BN host to TTA ligand and TTA ligand to Eu 3+ ions, leading to the remarkable increase of red emission. The synthetic approach should be a very promising strategy which can be easily expanded to other hybrid luminescent materials based on porous BN.