Europium(III) Complex-Functionalized SiO(2)@mTiO(2) Nanospheres for Al(3+)-Modulated Multicolor Emission

A europium(III) hybrid material Eu(tta)(3)bpdc-SiO(2)@mTiO(2) (Htta = 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone, H(2)bpdc = 2,2′-bipyridine-3,3′-dicarboxylic acid) was successfully designed and synthesized by the covalent grafting complex Eu(tta)(3)bpdc to SiO(2)@mTiO(2) core–shell nanosphere. The FT-IR, PXRD, XPS, TEM, HRTEM, SAED, TGA and PL were performed to characterize these materials. The results indicate that core–shell nanosphere structure and anatase crystallites of SiO(2)@mTiO(2) are retained well after grafting the europium complex. Hybrid material Eu(tta)(3)bpdc-SiO(2)@mTiO(2) displays uniform nanosphere structure, bright red color and long lifetime, which can serve as a multicolor emission material modulated by using Al(3+) ions via the cation exchange approach under a single-wavelength excitation. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first multicolor emissive sensor for Al(3+) ions based on the lanthanide hybrid material.