An investigation into photofunctional interfaces of 8-hydroxyquinoline/hydroxyapatite hybrids

Abstract Organic/inorganic hybrids of 8-hydroxyquinoline (8Hq) molecule and hydroxyapatite nanocrystal (HAp) were mechanochemically prepared. In the hybrids, a green photoluminescence peak at 500 nm newly appeared, suggesting the chemical bonding of the 8Hq molecule with the Ca 2+ ions of HAp. Then, the organic/inorganic interfacial photofunction was clarified by a molecular orbital calculation. The interfacial chemical bonding between the O and N atoms of 8Hq and the Ca 2+ ions of HAp was attributed to both covalent O Ca and ionic N Ca. The resultant wave functions revealed that the green luminescence was attributed to metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) from the O atoms of phosphate group (HAp) to the π-cloud (8Hq) in the HOMO of the hybrids. Therefore, the photofunctional interfaces of the hybrids were successfully demonstrated.