Preparation, luminescence and photofunctional performances of a hybrid layered gadolinium-europium hydroxide

Abstract

The design and fabrication of rare earth ions incorporated into the inorganic/organic hybrid materials have attracted growing attention for seeking improved optical properties and photofunctional performances. In this paper, a novel hybrid composite based on the layered rare earth hydroxides was successfully prepared by the ion-exchange and intercalation chemical process. The rare earth elements in the composite contain gadolinium (Gd) and europium (Eu) and the molar ratio of Gd to Eu is kept constant at 1.9 : 0.1. Organic sodium dodecyl sulfonate and dye coumarin-3-carboxyllc acid are simultaneously incorporated into the layered rare earth hydroxides as supporting agent and light-harvesting antenna, respectively. The resulting hybrid layered rare earth hydroxides exhibit the enlarged interlayer distance with about 2.60 nm, and the chemical composition was confirmed through X-ray diffraction, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen (CHN) elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The layered solid compound shows the characteristic red emission corresponding to the 5D0→7F2 transition of Eu3+ ion, and the luminescence intensity of the optimized compound is greatly enhanced as compared to its corresponding nitrate and the hybrid composite without the introduction of dye molecule. The hybrid layered rare earth hydroxides can be exfoliated into bright colloidal solution, which show superior recognition capability to Cu2+ ion with the distinct luminescence quenching. The large quenching constant (1.4 × 104 L/mol) and low detection limit (0.35 μmol/L) are achieved for Cu2+ ion, implying a “turn-off” fluorescent sensor for Cu2+ detection. Moreover, a transparent film was prepared based on the colloidal solution and displays the typical red emission in folded shape. The new hybrid compound with enhanced luminescence and excellent photofunctional performances is expected to be applied in the fields of fluorescent sensing and flexible optical devices.