Strong enhancement effect of silver nanowires on fluorescent property of Eu 3+ -ligand complexes and desired fluorescent iPP composite materials

Abstract In this contribution, we obtained the strong enhancement effect of silver nanowires(AgNWs) on fluorescent property of Eu 3+ -antenna complexes through the function of the surface plasmon resonance(SPR) effect. The key structural characteristics are: (1) AgNWs are covered by the Eu 3+ -ligand complex and spaced by SiO 2 nano-layer between AgNWs and Eu 3+ -ligand complex (this structure is marked as AgNWs@SiO 2 @EuTP), and (2) AgNWs as nano-material with large ratio of length to diameter show their good dispersion and processability in isotactic polypropylene (iPP). We obtained the important data about the optimal spacer thickness of SiO 2 is 15 nm that was not found in previous publications. The enhanced intensity of fluorescence of EuTP by AgNWs in AgNWs@SiO 2 @EuTP is 9 times compared with that of EuTP. All of these outstanding properties and fine structures were characterized by TEM, FT-IR, XRD, and fluorescence spectrophotometer. On the other hand, the desired fluorescent iPP composite material was obtained through blending AgNWs@SiO 2 @EuTP into iPP host. Very importantly, the enhancement effect of AgNWs on EuTP fluorescence in AgNWs@SiO 2 @EuTP is refrained from the quenching caused by host polymer of iPP.