Abstract
Understanding behavior of rare-earth ions (REI) in crowded environments is crucial for several nano- and bio-technological applications. Evolution of REI photoluminescence (PL) in small compartments inside a silica hydrogel, mimic to a soft matter bio-environment, has been studied and explained within a solvation model. The model uncovered the origin of high PL efficiency to be the formation of REI complexes, surrounded by bile salt (DOC) molecules. Comparative study of these REI-DOC complexes in bulk water solution and those enclosed inside the hydrogel revealed a strong correlation between an up to 5×-longer lifetime of REIs and appearance of the DOC ordered phase, further confirmed by dynamics of REI solvation shells, REI diffusion experiments and morphological characterization of microstructure of the hydrogel.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 26715-26721 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 48 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 19 2014 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry