Triggering White-Light Emission in a 2D Imine Covalent Organic Framework Through Lanthanide Augmentation

Recently, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as an interesting class of porous materials, featuring tunable porosity and fluorescence properties based on reticular construction principles. Some COFs display highly emissive monocolored luminescence, but attaining white-light emission from COFs is difficult as it must account for a wide wavelength range. White-light emission is highly desired for solid-state lighting applications, and obtaining it usually demands the combination of red-, green-, and blue-light components. Hence, to achieve the targeted white-light emission, we report for the first time grafting of lanthanides (Eu³⁺/Tb³⁺) on a two-dimensional imine COF (TTA-DFP-COF). We studied the luminescence properties of the hybrid materials prepared by anchoring Eu³⁺ (red light) and Tb³⁺ (green light) β-diketonate complexes onto the TTA-DFP-COF. Reticular construction is exploited to design strong coordination of Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ ions into nitrogen-rich pockets of the imine COF. Mixed Eu³⁺/Tb³⁺ materials are then prepared to incorporate red and green components along with the inherent blue light from the organic moieties of the COF to produce white-light emission. We show that COFs have the potential for hosting Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ complexes, which can be tuned to obtain desired excitations for applications in the field of optoelectronics, microscopy, optical sensing, and bioassay.