A multifunctional Tb‐porphyrin aerogel for ratiometric fluorescent sensing of Cu(II) and photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B

Synthesis of Ln‐porphyrin aerogels with abundant porosity and novel photophysical properties for luminescent sensing and photocatalysis should have significant importance. In this paper, a multifunctional Tb‐porphyrin aerogel was synthesized using agarose as a building block for ratiometric fluorescent Cu(II) sensing and photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B. Specially, Tb‐porphyrin particles were introduced into agarose aerogel to give the Tb‐porphyrin aerogel with porous structure. Tb‐porphyrin aerogel shows an excellent sensing performance toward Cu(II) resulting from the self‐referencing mechanism and the porous structure. The fluorescent response exhibits a linear range from 1 to 200 μM ( R 2 = 0.990), and the limit of detection is 50 nM (S/N = 3). Such a ratiometric fluorescent sensor shows excellent long‐term stability and selectivity. Furthermore, the Tb‐porphyrin aerogel was used for photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B, exhibiting a more efficient activity compared with the Tb‐porphyrin particle. This research should open up a new avenue to develop Ln‐porphyrin aerogel‐based material for ratiometric fluorescent sensing and photocatalysis.