Deposition of luminescent Y2O3:Eu3+ on ferromagnetic mesoporous CoFe2O4@mSiO2 nanocomposites

Luminescent Y2O3:Eu(3+) particles have been deposited on the surface of ferromagnetic mesoporous CoFe2O4@mSiO2 nanoparticles by a co-precipitation method, obtaining multifunctional CoFe2O4@mSiO2@Y2O3:Eu(3+) nanocomposites. XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, XPS, N2-adsorption-desorption, FT-IR, VSM and PL were used to characterized the samples. The results reveal that the nanocomposites display typical mesoporous characteristics with high surface areas (BET), large pore volumes and core-shell structures. The composites show ferromagnetic properties and red luminescence from the (5)D0-(7)F2 transition at 610 nm. The size and the magnetic and luminescence properties of the composites could be tuned by systematically varying the experimental parameters, such as the annealing temperature, the mass ratio of CoFe2O4@mSiO2 to Y2O3:Eu(3+), and the volume of TEOS. A possible quenching mechanism of the luminescent Y2O3:Eu(3+) by the ferromagnetic CoFe2O4 is proposed. The high BET and large pore volume may give the composite potential application in controlled drug release.