N-GQDs and Eu3+ co-encapsulated anionic MOFs: two-dimensional luminescent platform for decoding benzene homologues

Highly luminescent hybrids N-GQDs/Eu3+@Mg-MOF (N-GQDs = N atom doped graphene quantum dots and Mg-MOF = {[Mg-3(ndc)(2.5)(HCO2)(2)(H2O)][NH2Me2]center dot 2H(2)O center dot DMF}) have been synthesized and their photophysical properties were investigated. The resulting luminescent material can exhibit dual-emission from N-GQDs and Eu3+ when excited at 394 nm, whereas the emission of ligand-based and Eu3+ can be collected when excited at 349 nm. Exposed to a series of atmospheric benzene homologues (BTEX) in a sealed environment for 1 hour at 25 degrees C, N-GQDs/Eu3+@Mg-MOF shows excellent fingerprint correlations between the exact BTEX and the emission peak height ratio of I-L/I-Eu (luminescent intensity ratio of ligand-based emission at 414 nm and Eu3+-based emission at 618 nm) and I-Eu/IN-GQDs (luminescent intensity ratio of l-emission based on N-GQDs at 443 nm and Eu3+-based emission at 618 nm), which makes it possible for this material to become a good platform for the detection of BTEX.