A new method for fabrication of gel emulsions and their application in preparation of novel porous materials

Abstract

In the research of gel emulsions, it is a great challenge to develop a new method for fabrication of gel emulsions and utilize them in preparing novel porous materials containing metal complexes. In this work, we proposed to use coordination self-assemblies of two building blocks, organic ligands and metal ions, as stabilizers to prepare gel emulsions, which could be used as templates to prepare porous materials containing metal complexes. Aromatic carboxylic ligands CDCn (n = 4, 6, 8, and 10) containing cholesterol groups were designed and synthesized, and were used as organic ligands to fabricate new W/O gel emulsions through the coordination self-assembly with Tb³⁺/Eu³⁺ at the oil–water interface. The gel emulsions based on CDC6 possess injection molding properties, which were rarely seen in conventional gel emulsions. EDX mapping and XPS and FTIR analyses revealed that the coordination self-assembly of CDC6 and Tb³⁺ at the oil–water interface was the main driving force for the gel emulsion formation. CDC6/Tb³⁺/styrene/H₂O gel emulsions could be further used as templates to prepare low-density porous metal complex/polymer composites with typical luminescence emissions of terbium complexes. This work extends the method for preparation of gel emulsions and develops a novel approach to obtain porous materials containing metal complexes.