Elsevier

Materials Letters

Volume 60, Issues 21–22, September 2006, Pages 2662-2665
Materials Letters

Design and synthesis of Alq3-functionalized SBA-15 mesoporous material

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2006.01.059Get rights and content

Abstract

A luminescent organic molecule aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3) has been successfully introduced in the pores of amino-functionalized mesoporous SBA-15 (APS-SBA-15). An obvious blue-shifted photoluminescence (PL) of Alq3 was observed. In the pores of APS-SBA-15, the Alq3 organic molecules exhibited efficient and intense PL as monomers and the emission intensities increased with increasing Alq3 concentration.

Introduction

More recently, mesostructured materials have received much attention for electronic and optical applications [1]. This is because the high surface area of the mesostructured materials creates the potential to dope active guest molecules with certain size at higher concentration. Moreover, immobilization of luminary on a rigid support can lead an enhancement of the emission efficiency [2], [3], [4], [5]. Ordered mesoporous silicas such as SBA-15 or MCM-41 are indeed suitable host materials as they present the material chemists with a highly ordered porous inorganic matrix, wherein the luminescence organic molecules can be grown in nanometer sized structure. Significantly, SBA-15 shows higher hydrothermal and thermal stability than MCM-41, which is very important to prepare new solid luminescent materials.

Aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) is one of the most stable fluorescent solid-state materials, making it the emission and electron-transport layer of choice in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDS) [6], [7], [8]. In recent years, enhancement of electroluminescent (EL) efficiency and color tuning through molecular doping or microcavity-assisted color tuning has increased the range of applications. Alq3 is a soluble complex in common organic solvents such as chloroform, dichloromethane and so on, from which it is difficult to fabricate high-efficiency organic photoelectric devices. To solve the problem, one of the efficient methods is to prepare solid luminescent materials [9], [10], [11]. This paper presents the first report of photoluminescence and relevant features of aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3) introduced to the pores of APS-SBA-15 as monomers. This hybrid luminescent solid material displays an obvious blue-shifted photoluminescence (PL) and high PL intensity, and hence has greatly promising applications in novel optoelectronic devices, such as microcavity, flat panel display and quantum devices.

Section snippets

Preparation procedure

SBA-15 was synthesized according to the methods described in the literatures [12], [13]. Amino-functionalized SBA-15 was prepared using a procedure similar to that described by Mckittrick and Jones [14]. 1.0 g of calcined SBA-15 was added to 100 ml of dry toluene in a 250 ml flask, and the flask was flushed with nitrogen for 20 min. Then 0.54 ml of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was added and stirred. After 24 h, the solid was filtrated, washed with toluene and ethanol, and dried in air.

Results and discussion

The PXRD pattern of pure siliceous SBA-15 as shown in Fig. 1a displays an intense peak at 0.82° and two weak peaks in the range of 2θ = 1.3–1.8°, which matches well with the pattern of SBA-15 silica reported in the literature [12], [13]. The prominent peak should be indexed as (100) diffraction peak, and other two as (110) and (200) diffraction peaks. After the introduction of organic propylamino groups and then aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3), the PXRD pattern of parent SBA-15 silica is

Conclusion

In summary, hybrid photoluminescent solid material has been prepared by the incorporation of luminescent organic molecules Alq3 into the mesoporous channels of APS-SBA-15. Interaction between Alq3 molecules is disturbed because of confine effect of nanometer pore of SBA-15, and Alq3 molecules are presented as similar as monomers. These monomers display efficient and intense photoluminescence, and the emission spectra shift to the short wavelength region in comparison to pure solid Alq3. It is

Acknowledgement

The work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2004CB217804).

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