Simple preparation of silica nanoparticles of less than 200 nm diameter encapsulating europium (III) chelate compound
摘要
Monodispersed silica nanoparticles (NPs) of 30–204 nm diameter encapsulating {2,2′,2″,2‴-{4′-{[(4,6-dichloro-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]biphenyl-4-yl}-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine-6,6″-diyl}bis(methylenenitrilo)}tetrakis(acetate)–Eu3+ (DTBTA–Eu (III)) were prepared in aqueous solutions at various amounts of DTBTA–Eu (III) dissolved in H2O for various durations of mixing DTBTA–Eu (III) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Transmission electron microscopy images indicated that the NPs were uniformly distributed in the solutions, and luminescence emission spectra were assigned to DTBTA–Eu (III), which typically has three peaks at 586, 595, and 614 nm. The apparent amount of DTBTA–Eu (III) encapsulated in silica NPs, which was determined from luminescence emission intensity, increased with NP diameter. The silica NPs encapsulating DTBTA–Eu (III) prepared by adjusting the amounts of concentrated NH4OH solution and tetraethyl orthosilicate in the presence of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide in the first step of preparation had a minimum diameter of 30 nm and an enhanced luminescence lifetime of 1.79 ms.