Luminescence performance of Cerium(III) ions incorporated into organofunctional mesoporous silica

Abstract

Abstract Series of SBA-15 derived ordered mesoporous silica adsorbents bearing phenylsulfonic, phosphonic groups and their combinations were synthesized by non-grafting approach. Sodium metasilicate was used as precursor for the silica matrix. The materials were characterized using 1H, 31P, 29Si and 13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy, N2-physisorption isotherms, powder XRD, FTIR, TGA, SEM and TEM. It was found that all the samples exhibited typical hexagonal arrangement of mesoporous structure with high surface area. The active organic functions were, at least to some extent, incorporated into the framework of SBA-15, efficiently promoting the uptake of Ce(III) into the produced SBA-15 type matrices. Significant changes in luminescence of the samples were observed with both increasing content of incorporated cation and with change of heteroatoms (O, P, S) in functional groups of silica. The shapes of the peaks at 350–360 nm in the photoluminescence spectra originating from the 4f→5d (2F5/2, 2F7/2) transitions were indicative of the presence of Ce(III) ions in the mesoporous silica matrix with adsorption capacity increasing in the series up to ~2 mmol∙g−1(259.2 mg∙g−1). The Ce-incorporated samples dehydrated in vacuum exhibited decreased photoluminescence with integrated intensities comparable to those of water-containing samples. The high luminescent performances of these luminescent Ce-incorporated mesoporous materials could render attractive potential applications in optical amplification and laser systems, etc.