Controllable Production of Micro-nanoscale Metal-Organic Frameworks Coatings on Cotton Fabric for Sensing Cu²⁺

Abstract

Luminescent lanthanide metal-organic frameworks (ln-MOFs) is a promising materials for sensing. However, seeking ideal method to scale up in mass production and can be uniform on flexible substrate is still a great challenge. In this study, a novel and efficient process was employed for the fabrication of flexible and environmental copper ion-sensing materials using cotton fabric as a substrate. The micro-nanoscale Europium metal-organic frameworks (Eu-MOFs) was prepared through adding blocking reagent, and then cotton fabric was coated with the Eu-MOFs by hot pressing. The results show that controllable dense micro-nanoscale Eu-MOFs film was coated on the cotton fabric with different dipping and hot pressing times. The method is fast, simple, low-cost and suitable for production. The Eu-MOFs coated cotton fabric exhibits good photoluminescent properties. The selective sensing ability of Eu-MOFs coated fabric for Cu²⁺ over many other metal ions (K⁺, Cd²⁺, Ca²⁺, Pb²⁺, Na⁺, Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺, Mg²⁺, Al³⁺ and Co²⁺) is verified by emission spectra, and by the fact that the fluorescence intensity of the fabric significantly decreased with an increase in the concentration of Cu²⁺ (10⁻⁶—10⁻¹ mol/L). This method provides a new path for the controllable production of MOFs-coated functional textiles for different applications, such as anti-counterfeiting, UV-protection, superhydrophobic, and sensing materials in the textile industry.