Materials Chemistry and Physics 133 (2012) 78–86 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Materials Chemistry and Physics jo u rn al hom epage : www.elsevier.com/locate/matchemphys Assembly, stabilities, and photophysical behaviors of highly efficient luminescent materials fabricated from a terbium complex doped silica/polymer hybrids Jun Xu a , Yufei Ma a , Lei Jia b , Xiaoguang Huang a , Zhimin Deng a , Haiping Wang a , Weisheng Liu a , Yu Tang a,∗ a Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, PR China b Department of Physics and Chemistry, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454000, PR China a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 9 May 2011 Received in revised form 10 November 2011 Accepted 21 December 2011 Keywords: Non-crystalline materials Chemical synthesis Photoluminescence spectroscopy Luminescence a b s t r a c t A series of hybrid polymeric materials Tb-L xerogel, Polymer-Tb-L xerogels (polymer = PVB, PVP, or PMMA) fabricated from a new highly luminescent Tb(III) complex TbL 2 (NO 3 ) 3 (˚ = 42.65%) of ˇ-diketone ligand [L = N-(6-(2-methylpyridinyl))trifluoroketoacetamide] were successfully assembled by sol–gel process. The Fourier transform infrared spectra, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry (TG), UV–visible spectra and photophysical behaviors of Tb(III) complex and Tb(III) complex doped hybrids (Tb-L xerogel, Polymer-Tb-L xerogels) are investigated in detail. The hybrids display more efficient unit mass luminescence emission, enhanced thermal stability, and improved exposure durability in comparison with the pure complex, due to the steric restriction effect from the rigid Si O and Si C polymeric network. In addition, the hybrids Polymer-Tb-L xerogels represent longer lifetime and higher quantum efficiency than that of the hybrid Tb-L xerogel. The result may support the conclusion that the polymers could not only enwrap the lanthanide complexes to keep the donors and acceptors close, but also transfer energy to the central Tb(III) ions. Comparatively, PVP-Tb- L xerogel represents the longest lifetime (1047.07 s) and highest quantum yield (34.09%). At the same time, concentration effects on the luminescence intensity were investigated. The luminescence intensity decreases, however, with increasing complex concentration in the Polymer-Tb-L xerogels. The research of this work attempted to assemble the highly efficient luminescent materials containing the optimal combination of lanthanide complex and matrices. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The trivalent lanthanide ions are well-known for their photo- luminescent properties in the visible and near-infrared regions suitable for various applications such as chemosensors [1,2], probes and labels [3,4]. As already noticed, the direct Ln(III) photoexci- tation is not very efficient, due to the low absorption coefficients because of the f–f electronic transitions which are forbidden and the non-radiative deactivation of their excited states by O H oscillators such as water [5]. However, the luminescence intensity of Ln(III) can be improved significantly through the design of lanthanide com- plexes, in which the ligands incorporating organic chromophores serve as antennae or sensitizers that strongly bonded to the 4f metal center [6,7]. These molecules can also shield the metal ion from deleterious luminescence quenching interactions by O H oscilla- tors originating from solvent molecules. ˇ-Diketonate lanthanide ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 931 8912552; fax: +86 931 8912582. E-mail address: tangyu@lzu.edu.cn (Y. Tang). complexes are the most popular and intensively investigated lumi- nescent lanthanide complexes [8–11], because of the relatively easy synthesis and the excellent luminescent properties. However, the factors such as poor stabilities under high tem- perature or moisture conditions and low mechanical strength limit their practical use [12,13]. In order to simultaneously circumvent these drawbacks, lanthanide complexes have been incorporated into zeolites [14], mesoporous materials [15,16], silica gel or organ- ically modified silicates (ORMOSIL) [17,4], and polymers [18] to constitute hybrid materials. It has always been a challenging task for researchers to develop a simple and attractive method to create highly luminescent materi- als for optical devices and applications, which combine the intrinsic luminescent properties of lanthanide ions and unique physical and chemical properties of hybrids. The proper incorporation of lan- thanide complex into silica gel matrix which is based on hydrolysis and polycondensation reactions to form extended networks with an oxide skeleton represents a mild and extremely versatile method for the preparation of inorganic–organic hybrid materials [19–21]. In this process, lanthanide complexes which are soluble in the 0254-0584/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.matchemphys.2011.12.054