Lanthanide cation encapsulated in a metal-organic framework as a white LED and selective naked-eye reversible HCl sensor

In this article, anionic HPU-14 with permanent porosity and excellent stability in air was used as a platform for loading green-emitting Tb3+ and red-emitting Eu3+ into nanotube channels of a blue-emitting metal–organic framework via an ion-exchange process. The emissions of HPU-14@Tb3+@Eu3+ were in the white region with a high quantum yield of up to 7.1% when this composite was excited at 365 nm (X = 0.325, 0.315). HPU-14@Tb3+@Eu3+ was suitable for a white light-emitting device and enabled the sensitive colorimetric reversible detection of gaseous HCl while the host net remained intact.