Luminescent hybrid materials based on zeolite L crystals and lanthanide complexes: Host–guest assembly and ultraviolet–visible excitation

Several kinds of host-guest hybrid materials have been synthesized employing a ship in a bottle method by loading 9-hydroxy-2-methylphenalenone (MHPO) or 9-hydroxyphenalen (HPNP) from gas phase into the nanochannels of Ln(3+)-exchanged zeolite L (ZL) crystals (Ln=Gd or Eu). The resulting hybrids without lanthanide ions, MHPO-ZL, HPNP-ZL and the hybrids with lanthanide ions Ln-MHPO-ZL and Ln-HPNP-ZL are characterized with FT-IR, UV-vis DRS and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photoluminescence properties of these hybrid materials have been analyzed and discussed, exhibiting the luminescence of Eu(3+) and ligands under the excitation at ultraviolet-visible region. These results provide useful data and can be expected to have potential application in the practical fields.