Luminescent lanthanide (Eu3+, Tb3+) ternary mesoporous hybrids with functionalized β-diketones (TTA, DBM) covalently linking SBA-15 and 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy)

SBA-15 mesoporous silica has been functionalized with 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA) and 1,3-diphenyl-1,3-propanepione (DBM) through co-condensation approach of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in the presence of the Pluronic P123 surfactant as template. TTA and DBM grafted to the coupling agent 3-(triethoxysilyl)-propyl isocyanate (TEPIC) derivatives were used as the precursor for the preparation of organic–inorganic hybrid materials. Novel organic–inorganic mesoporous luminescent hybrid containing Ln3+ (Eu3+, Tb3+) complexes covalently attached to the functionalized ordered mesoporous SBA-15, which were designated as Ln(TTA–SBA-15)3bpy and Ln(DBM–SBA-15)3bpy, respectively, were obtained by sol–gel process (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine). The luminescence properties of these resulting materials were characterized in detail, and the results reveal that they all have high surface area and uniformity in the mesopore structure. In addition, Eu(TTA–SBA-15)3bpy exhibits the stronger characteristic emission of Eu3+ and longer lifetime than the corresponding DBM-containing materials Eu(DBM–SBA-15)3bpy, while Tb(DBM–SBA-15)3bpy exhibit the stronger characteristic emission of Tb3+ and longer lifetime than the corresponding TTA-containing materials Tb(TTA–SBA-15)3bpy, which may be due to the triplet energy level of TTA is more suitable for the luminescence of Eu3+ than that of DBM, while the triplet energy level of DBM is more suitable for the luminescence of Tb3+ than that of TTA.