Europium (III) Organic Complexes in Porous Boron Nitride Microfibers: Efficient Hybrid Luminescent Material

We report the design and synthesis of a novel kind of organic-inorganic hybrid material via the incorporation of europium (III) β-diketonate complexes (Eu(TTA)₃, TTA = 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone) into one-dimensional (1D) porous boron nitride (BN) microfibers. The developed Eu(TTA)₃@BN hybrid composites with typical 1D fibrous morphology exhibit bright visible red-light emission on UV illumination. The confinement of Eu(TTA)₃ within pores of BN microfibers not only decreases the aggregation-caused quenching in solid Eu(TTA)₃, but also improves their thermal stabilities. Moreover, The strong interactions between Eu(TTA)₃ and porous BN matrix result in an interesting energy transfer process from BN host to TTA ligand and TTA ligand to Eu³⁺ ions, leading to the remarkable increase of red emission. The synthetic approach should be a very promising strategy which can be easily expanded to other hybrid luminescent materials based on porous BN.