A luminescent mesoporous zirconium complex and it as a precursor of environmentally benign catalysts

Abstract

Much attention should be paid to developing new materials for energy saving and environmentally benign catalysis. Herein we report the broad-band direct white-light emission originating from a single-phased and single-doped phosphor,i.e., a luminescent mesoporous zirconium oxy-hydroxy acetate–persulfate complex and the complex doped by Eu3+. The amorphous complexes exhibit the photoluminescence and color properties comparable to or better than those of the crystalline MOFs. The attracting feature of this route to white-light emission comes from the single-phased and single-doped phosphors that can be prepared through a low-cost chemical synthesis approach. In addition to photoluminescence, the complexes show useful textural properties. The pristine complex has been used as a precursor of environmentally benign catalysts in the esterification of lauric acid with methanol and in n-hexane isomerization.