A multifunctional organic–inorganic multilayer film based on tris(1,10-phenanthroline)ruthenium and polyoxometalate

The novel multifunctional thin films composed of transition metal complex tris(1,10-phenanthroline)ruthenium(II) Ru(phen)3Cl2 (abbr Ru(phen)3, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline), and Dawson-type polyoxometalate [P2Mo18O62]6− (abbr P2Mo18) were fabricated on quartz, silicon and ITO substrates by layer-by-layer (LBL) method. The LBL films deposition were found to be linearly related to the number of bilayers as monitored by UV–vis spectroscopy. And the compositions of the films were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). The result of atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed a relatively uniform surface morphology of the multilayer films. In particular, the films exhibited the photo-luminescence arising from π*–t2g ligand-to-metal transition of Ru(phen)3 and catalytic activity to the reduction of NO2− attributing to molybdenum-centered redox processes of P2Mo18.