Chain-like uranyl-coordination polymer as a bright green light emitter for sensing and sunlight driven photocatalysis

GOMEZ, G. E.; ONNA, D.; D'VRIES, R. F.; BARJA, BEATRIZ; ELLENA, JAVIER; NARDA, G. E.; SOLER ILLIA, GALO J. A. A.

Journal of Materials Chemistry C

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Año: 2020 vol. 8 p. 11102 - 11109

2050-7526

A new uranyl-coordination polymer (UCP) has been solvothermally synthesized employing succinic acid and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) as ligands. The obtained compound with formula [(UO2)2(phen)(succ)0.5(OH)(O)4(μ3-O)(H2O)]·H2O(UNSL-1), is classified as 1D chains showing I0O1 connectivity. Also, the asymmetric unit is composed by two heptacoordinateduranyl centers: U1 surrounded by five oxygen atoms from succinate, meanwhile U2 surrounded by two nitrogenatoms from phen and three oxygen atoms from succinate ([U1O7] and [U2N2O5]). The Secondary-Building Unit (SBU) iscomposed by a sharing edge tetrameric cluster linked by succinate ligand in the [-1 0 1] direction. Besides, the chains arereinforced by π-π stacking interactions from between the aromatic rings of phen molecules to conform a 2D supramoleculararrangement. Moreover, photoluminescence experiments show strong green emission consistent with uranyl crystallinematerials. The photophysical characterization was completed by low-temperature measurements (77 K) and recording thedecay emission for calculating the lifetime (obs) value. Regarding its multifunctional properties, a cation-sensingperformance was achieved founding selective quenching toward iron ions in aqueous media. Finally, UNSL-1 was tested asan efficient water photocatalyst of dye degradation under simulated sunlight irradiation, exhibiting promising results fororganic-pollutant water remediation.