A series of nano/micro-sized metal–organic frameworks with tunable photoluminescence properties

Abstract

Present studies on metal–organic frameworks (MOF) mainly focus on macro-scaled single crystals. However, the realization of MOF nanocrystals via a bottom-up one-step method still remains a significant challenge. Here, hierarchically assembled nanostructures of lanthanide-based MOFs with 1D and 3D morphologies have been successfully fabricated via a simple and rapid solution phase method at room temperature. Upon UV excitation, these nanomaterials exhibit highly efficient tunable luminescence properties, which come from the Eu³⁺ or Tb³⁺ ions. Moreover, white-light emission can be achieved by co-activating the organic ligand, Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ ions in the nano-MOFs.