Abstract
A facile one-pot synthesis method was used for the preparation of water-soluble luminescent mesoporous SiO
2
@Tb(OH)
3
core-shell nanospheres. The prepared core-shell nanospheres have amorphous characteristics, with diameters in the distribution range of 105-135 nm. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the non-crystalline nature of the core-shell nanospheres. Furthermore, the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results have also revealed a typically ordered mesoporous characteristic of the nanospheres, which have a monodisperse spherical feature in addition to a porous surface and a narrow size distribution. Our optical studies have shown the characteristic emission of Tb
3+
(
5
D
4
-
7
F
j
, where
j
= 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 0), even after making a core-shell structure on the surface of the mesoporous silica nanoparticles, indicating that Tb
3+
interacts with the silica framework (possibly the hydroxyl groups on the silica surface), and thus prevents aggregation among the Tb
3+
ions, therefore efficiently enhancing the luminescence character of the nanospheres. These water-soluble luminescent mesoporous SiO
2
@Tb(OH)
3
core-shell nanospheres could be highly suitable materials for optical bioprobes, protein labeling and drug-delivery, as particle sizes in the range of 50 to 300 nm are widely sought for drug delivery systems.
One-pot synthesis of luminescent functionalized mesoporous SiO
2
@Tb(OH)
3
core-shell nanospheres and their photoluminescence properties.