Photophysical Properties of a Novel Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Material: Eu(III)‐β‐Diketone Complex Covalently Bonded to SiO2/ZnO Composite Matrix

Abstract

In this article, dibenzoylmethane (DBM) was first grafted with the coupling reagent 3-(triethoxysilyl)-propyl isocyanate (TESPIC) to form precursor DBM-Si, and ZnO quantum dot was modified with 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPS) to form SiO(2) /ZnO nanocomposite particle. Then the precursor DBM-Si and the terminal ligand 1,10-phenthroline (phen) were coordinated to Eu(3+) ion to obtain ternary hybrid material phen-Eu-DBM-SiO(2) /ZnO after hydrolysis and copolycondensation between the tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), water molecules and the SiO(2) /ZnO network via the sol-gel process. In addition, for comparison, the binary hybrid material with SiO(2) /ZnO network and ternary hybrid material with pure Si-O network were also synthesized, denoted as Eu-DBM-SiO(2) /ZnO and phen-Eu-DBM-Si, respectively. The results reveal that hybrid material with SiO(2) /ZnO network phen-Eu-DBM-SiO(2) /ZnO exhibits the stronger red light, the longer lifetimes and higher quantum efficiency than hybrid material with pure Si-O network phen-Eu-DBM-Si, suggesting that SiO(2) /ZnO is a favorable host matrix for the luminescence of rare earth complexes.