Preparation of cumulate litchi shell-like structure porous Eu(TTA)3(TPPO)2/SnO2 material with stronger red emission

The porous Eu(TTA) 3 (TPPO) 2 /SnO 2 (ETTS, TTA: 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetonate and TPPO : triphenylphosphine oxide) composite was prepared via sol-gel method with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as catalyst which showed the cumulate litchi shell-like structure. The Eu(TTA) 3 (TPPO) 2 organic complexes (ETT) could be absolutely distributed into the pores of the SnO 2 matrix at the molecular level through sol-gel process. SiO 2 was used as the hard template which was removed to increase porosity during the prepared process. The red emission of ETTS was exhibited under the 368 nm excitation light, and much better luminescence properties was shown after washing off SiO 2 (ETTS-W) which was about 4 times of unwashed ETTS (ETTS-UW) and 15.6 times of ETT for 615 nm emission when Eu content was 6 wt%. The excellent luminescence property of ETTS-W samples was mainly attributed to the organic ligands, the pore structure after removing SiO 2 and stronger ultraviolet absorption capacity of SnO 2 matrix.