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Facile synthesis and luminescence properties of europium(III)-doped silica nanotubes

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Abstract

Photoluminescent nanomaterials had emerged as an amazing field in a wide range of applications during the past few decades. In this article, fibrous europium tartrates and photoluminescent silica nanotubes were conveniently synthesized by using sol–gel method, in which europium ions entered silica matrix. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, fourier transform infrared spectra, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectra analysis were used to characterize the growth, structure, morphology and optical property of the products. The results indicated that europium tartrates nanofibers as a template can transform tetraethylorthosilicate into silica nanotubes effectively. Meanwhile, europium(III) was transferred from the fibers to the tubes successfully. A hard template mechanism was proposed to explain the formation process of europium(III)-doped silica nanotubes. Moreover, different morphologies of silica-based nanomaterials were obtained due to varying NH4OH addition or stirring time. PL spectra from nanofiber and nanotube show a typical emission of europium(III), and 13 % is the quenching concentration of europium(III) in silica matrix for this system. The novel silica nanotubes can be applied potentially in optical and biological areas.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51272085 and 21171066), the key technology and equipment of efficient utilization of oil shale resources (No: OSR-05) and the Opening Research Funds Projects of the State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry and College of Chemistry, Jilin University (2013–27).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Gao, Ye Sheng, Yanhua Song, Keyan Zheng, Chunming Lin, Hui Zhang & Haifeng Zou

  2. Chemistry and Chemical Engineering College, Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities, Tongliao, 028000, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Gao

  3. State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Qisheng Huo

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  1. Fei Gao
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  3. Yanhua Song
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  5. Chunming Lin
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  8. Haifeng Zou
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Correspondence to Haifeng Zou.

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Gao, F., Sheng, Y., Song, Y. et al. Facile synthesis and luminescence properties of europium(III)-doped silica nanotubes. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 71, 313–323 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-014-3368-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-014-3368-7

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