Preparation and Characterization of Ternary Europium Nanorod Complexes with UV Excitation of the Characteristic Red Luminescence

Rare-earth luminescent complex have been attracted increasing interest since they can emit fluorescence using near ultraviolet as excitation wavelength. Nanomaterials have potential applications in optical, electronic, magnetic fields due to their surface effects, volume effects, quantum size effects and macroscopic quantum tunnel effects. Combing the important properties of fluorescence and nanomaterial, the study of nanosized rare earth fluorescence complex is an interesting topic. In this paper, we synthesized ternary luminescence complex nanorods composed of europium (Eu (III))-trimesic acid (H₃L)–1,10-phenanthroline (phen) using co-precipitation method in the polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) matrix. The elemental analyses of the samples were determined using an Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), and the chemical composition PVP/EuL(phen)_0.2·5H₂O was obtained. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed that the resulting nano-sized complex is new substance different from that of two ligands. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image indicated that the nano-sized complex was nanorod with the average diameter of about 50 nm. Thermal analysis (TGA) result exhibited that the nano-sized complex is stable under 400 °C. UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) showed that there is the maximum absorption at 260 nm. Photoluminescence analysis (PLA) indicated that the nano-sized complex emits Eu (III) characteristic red luminescence under ultraviolet excitation.