Improvement in the emission properties of a luminescent anionic dye intercalated between the lamellae of zinc hydroxide-layered

Tuning CO2 sensing properties of HPTS along with newly synthesized coordination polymers (CPs)

Coordination polymers (CPs), new functional hybrid materials, have received important attention due to their structural features and many different applications such as gas storage, catalysis, energy storage, small molecule adsorption, luminescence, and chemical sensors. In this study, two newly synthesized metal-organic frameworks (MOFs); [Mn₂(µ₄-dmg)-(µ₄-dmg)(µ-bipy)]_n (CP1) and [Mn₂(µ₄-dmg)(µ₄-dmg)(µ-dpeten)]_n (CP2); were used for sensing of gaseous carbon dioxide with a spectrofluorometric method with a dye, 8-hydroxypyrene-1, 3, 6-trisulfonic acid (HPTS) as matrix additive material for the first time. The ion-pair form of the HPTS was used in the polymethyl methacrylate matrix as a thin film form. When the HPTS based sensing slides along with the CPs, resulted in many advances such as high relative signal change and larger linear response range, improved sensor dynamics, and higher sensitivity with respect to the additive-free form. More specifically, in the presence of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), the variation in relative signal intensities of CP1 and CP2 doped HPTS sensing agents were measured as 60 and 40% for the concentration range of 0-10% pCO₂, respectively. The aim of this study is to enhance the CO₂ response of HPTS with doped CPs due to their useful attributes and potential applications containing selective gas absorption.

Zn(ferulate)-LSH Systems as Multifunctional Filters

Excessive UV solar radiation exposure causes human health risks; therefore, the study of multifunctional filters is important to skin UV protective ability and also to other beneficial activities to the human organism, such as reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsible for cellular damages. Potential multifunctional filters were obtained by intercalating of ferulate anions into layered simple metal hydroxides (LSH) through anion exchange and precipitation at constant pH methods. Ultrasound treatment was used in order to investigate the structural changes in LSH-ferulate materials. Structural and spectroscopic analyses show the formation of layered materials composed by a mixture of LSH intercalated with ferulate anions, where carboxylate groups of ferulate species interact with LSH layers. UV-VIS absorption spectra and in vitro SPF measurements indicate that LSH-ferulate systems have UV shielding capacity, mainly UVB protection. The results of reactive species assays show the ability of layered compounds in capture DPPH^•, ABTS^•+, ROO^•, and HOCl/OCl⁻ reactive species. LSH-ferulate materials exhibit antioxidant activity and singular optical properties that enable their use as multifunctional filters.

Towards rare-earth-free white light-emitting diode devices based on the combination of dicyanomethylene and pyranine as organic dyes supported on zinc single-layered hydroxide

A new luminescent composite film resulting from the dispersion of luminescent organic dyes in a single-layered hydroxide (SLH)-type inorganic matrix has been developed. Two fluorescent organic dyes emitting visible light upon blue LED excitation were investigated in this study: dicyanomethylene (DCM) and pyranine (HPTS). These dyes exhibit broad emission bands that cover a large part of the visible spectrum. The concept developed in our work consisted in keeping SLH in its wet form to ensure a good dispersion of the fluorescent dyes prior to immobilizing the hybrid materials in a silicone polymer to achieve luminescent composite films. We demonstrate that these coatings stacked upon each other and placed above a blue LED lead to white-light emission with suitable photometric parameters for applications in lighting or display devices: colour temperature of 5409 K and colour rendering index (CRI) of 81.