Abstract:
Nearly monodisperse, mesoporous, colloidal silica spheres were treated with aminopropyltriethoxysilane and subsequently calcined to generate luminescent mesoporous colloidal silica (LMCS), with broad bimodal visible emission and high surface areas exceeding 700 m2/g. The combination of high surface area and
localization of luminescence centers at the surface provides opportunities for exploring new efficient photophysical/photochemical relaxation processes with the metal-free/dye-free luminescent silica sol–gel materials. Addition of LMCS to solutions of TbCl3 or EuCl3 results in efficient lanthanide sensitization. The enhancement in lanthanide emission is accompanied by a quenching of LMCS emission.
