A multi-color and white-light emissive cucurbituril/terpyridine/lanthanide supramolecular nanofiber

Multi-color and white light luminescence materials based on supramolecular assemblies are attractive because of their potential applications in advanced light-emitting material. Herein, a cucurbit[8]uril-enhanced lanthanide luminescent supramolecular assembly was constructed in a facile but efficient way using terpyridine imidozalium cations, cucurbit[8]urils and rare earth ions such as Tb3+ and Eu3+. Significantly, the resultant fibrous supramolecular assembly, with an average width of 15 nm, could emit remarkable lanthanide luminescence, which was ten times higher than the corresponding terpyridine/Ln(3+) without cucurbit[8]uril. And the solid state luminescence of supramolecular assembly could be smartly and easily turned among blue, green, red and white by adjusting the molar ratios between Tb3+ and Eu3+. The enhanced white-light emission by supramolecular strategy may provide a new approach for smart and tunable solid luminescent materials. (C) 2019 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.