Fabrication and characterization of magnetic mesoporous silica nanospheres covalently bonded with europium complex

A novel multifunctional nanocomposite has been developed by combining the magnetic (Fe3O4) cores encapsulated in the mesoporous silica nanospheres and the luminescent Eu(TTA)(3)phen complex covalently bonded to the framework of mesoporous silica through a chelate ligand 5-[N,N-bis-3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]ureyl-1,10-phenanthroline(phen-Si). The obtained nanocomposite is denoted as Eu(TTA)(3)phen-MMS. It has been well characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N-2 adsorption/desorption, Quantum Design SQUID magnetometer and photoluminescence spectroscopy, respectively. The results demonstrated that Eu(TTA)(3)phen-MMS nanocomposite possess superparamagnetic behavior, intense red emission and mesostructures simultaneously.