Fabrication and characterization of magnetic mesoporous silica nanospheres covalently bonded with europium complex

Abstract

A novel multifunctional nanocomposite has been developed by combining the magnetic (Fe₃O₄) cores encapsulated in the mesoporous silica nanospheres and the luminescent Eu(TTA)₃phen complex covalently bonded to the framework of mesoporous silica through a chelate ligand 5-[N,N-bis-3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]ureyl-1,10-phenanthroline (phen-Si). The obtained nanocomposite is denoted as Eu(TTA)₃phen-MMS. It has been well characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ adsorption/desorption, Quantum Design SQUID magnetometer and photoluminescence spectroscopy, respectively. The results demonstrated that Eu(TTA)₃phen-MMS nanocomposite possess superparamagnetic behavior, intense red emission and mesostructures simultaneously.