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Strong UV Emission from Colloidal Eu 2+ ‐Doped BaSO 4 Nanoparticles: A Material for Enhancing the Photocatalytic Activity of Carbon Dots
Author(s) -
Hazra Chanchal,
Samanta Tuhin,
Ganguli Sagar,
Mahalingam Venkataramanan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201700647
Subject(s) - materials science , luminescence , nanoparticle , europium , polyacrylic acid , photochemistry , photocatalysis , quantum yield , rhodamine b , quantum dot , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , catalysis , fluorescence , polymer , organic chemistry , optoelectronics , physics , quantum mechanics , composite material , engineering
In this article, we report a facile microwave‐assisted green synthetic route for the preparation of highly luminescent water dispersible polyacrylic acid‐coated europium (Eu 2+ )‐doped BaSO 4 nanoparticles at low temperature for the first time. Polyacrylic acid coating over nanoparticles renders them water dispersible. Upon ultraviolet (UV) (250 nm) excitation, europium‐doped BaSO 4 nanoparticles exhibit a strong and broad UV luminescence near at 368 nm. This emission peak is quite strong and has a relative luminescence quantum yield (QY) of 53 %. The high QY of the UV emission from the nanoparticles is explored for the enhancement of the visible photocatalytic properties of the carbon dots (Cdots). In fact, faster degradation of the Rhodamine B is noted for the mixture containing both Eu 2+ ‐doped BaSO 4 nanoparticles and cetyl trimethylamonium bromide capped carbon dots. This is attributed to the strong overlap of the UV emission of Eu 2+ with the absorption spectrum of Cdots leading to high energy transfer efficiency (∼64 %). The energy transfer process is supported by the observation of lower dye degradation for the diluted colloidal mixtures where the average distance between Eu 2+ in BaSO 4 to Cdots nanoparticles is increased.