New Luminescent Mesoporous Material Covalent Bonded with Europium (III) Organic/Inorganic/Polymeric Hybrid

Luminescent ternary organic-inorganic-polymeric mesoporous hybrid material Eu-(PA-SBA-15)-PMAA was prepared in situ through hydrothermal and solvothermal method based on hydrolysis and co-polycondensation. The organic ligand PA (O-phthalic anhydride) was modified by silane coupling reagent APS ((3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane) to generate the precursor PA-Si which was used to form the ordered inorganic Si-O networks through direct co-hydrolysis and co-polycondensation process with SBA-15 in the presence of Pluronic P123 surfactant as a template. TEOS (tetraethoxysilane) was used to promote the hydrolysis and condensation process. Eu3+ complex Eu(PA-Si)3 was covalently linked to the ordered mesoporous SBA-15 and organic polymer PMMA which was synthesized by addition polymerization reaction of the monomer MMA (methyl methacrylate) in the presence of the initiator BPO (benzoyl peroxide). Moreover, the binary organic-inorganic mesoporous hybrid material Eu (PA-SBA-15)3 without polymer was also synthesized simultaneously for comparison. The luminescence properties of the hybrids were characterized in detail. The results show the ternary hybrid exhibits stronger emission intensity, longer lifetime and higher quantum efficiency than binary one which proves that the introduction of the organic polymer PMMA brings improvement to the hybrid system.