White-light-emitting Ln-hydrogels with multi-stimuli responsiveness and applications in environmental sensing and anti-counterfeiting

The construction of smart materials, especially white light emitting (WLE) hydrogels with multi-stimuli responsive properties, has received widespread attention from researchers. In this study, a WLE hydrogel was obtained by the in situ doping of Eu3+ and Tb3+ into a blue emission low molecular weight gelator (MPF). Remarkably, the prepared WLE hydrogel possessed excellent stimuli responsiveness to pH, temperature and chemicals, and could be used as a soft thermometer and a selective sensor for Cu2+. The correlated color temperature of the WLE hydrogel was calculated to be 5063 K, suggesting a potential application in cool white light. Moreover, a series of metallohydrogels with different colors were obtained by modulating the ratio of MPF, Eu3+ and Tb3+ or changing the excitation wavelength, which was an excellent candidate to construct soft materials of a full-color system. Additionally, the WLE hydrogel could be used for constructing anti-counterfeiting materials. Therefore, this study provides a new approach for preparing smart WLE hydrogels with multiple functions.

Automated summary

In this study, a white light emitting hydrogel with multi-stimuli responsive properties was prepared by doping Eu3+ and Tb3+ into a blue emission low molecular weight gelator. The hydrogel showed excellent responsiveness to pH, temperature, and chemicals, and could be used for temperature sensing and Cu2+ detection. It could also be used to construct soft materials of a full-color system and anti-counterfeiting materials. This study provides a new approach for preparing smart white light emitting hydrogels with multiple functions.