Tunable dual-emissive photoluminescence of a zinc(II) coordination polymer based on tetrazolate-carboxylatate acid and 4,4′-bipyridine mixed organic chromophores

•A zinc(II) coordination polymer based on mixed organic ligands was hydrothermally synthesized and structurally characterized.•The excitation wavelength-dependent phololuminence and blue-to-cyan-to-green tunable emissions of 1 have been achieved.•The photoluminescence mechanism of 1 was investigated experimentally and theoretically.

Herein, we presented an in-situ hydrothermally synthesized photoluminescent zinc(II) coordination polymer (Zn–CP), namely [Zn2(tzeba)2(bpy)]n1, in which H2tzeba = 3-(1-tetrazol-ethyl)benzoic acid, bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine. Compound 1 exhibits ligand-centered photoluminescence (PL) and displays interesting dual emissions based on the excitation of different chromophores from the mixed organic ligands. The PL colors of 1 could be tuned from blue-to-cyan-to-green directly by varying the excitation wavelengths. The PL mechanism has been investigated by the density of states (DOS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Graphical abstractA new dual-emissive coordination polymer [Zn2(tzeba)2(bpy)]n1 (H2tzeba = 3-(1-tetrazol-ethyl)benzoic acid, bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine) has been synthesized, which exhibits tunable emissions from the different chromophores of the mixed organic ligands through varying excitation wavelengths.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide