The
present work reports Förster resonance energy transfer
(FRET) from 1,8-naphthalimide (NI) donors bound to the pore walls
of mesoporous silicas to perylenediimide (PDI) acceptors doped into
the mesochannels. Mesoporous organosilicas containing covalently bound
NI were synthesized by co-condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate
(TEOS) with N-(3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)-1,8-naphthalimide (TEPNI)
in the presence of a block copolymer surfactant as a template. The
resulting materials were highly ordered, presenting a 2D hexagonal
structure, and displayed easily tunable optical properties, which
could be controlled by the amount of NI in the sample. A sample prepared
from a diluted TEPNI solution (SBANId) presented a blue, monomerlike
emission. In contrast, when a concentrated TEPNI solution was used,
the resulting material (SBANIc) displayed a green, excimerlike emission.
For the FRET studies, N,N′-bis(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-3,4,9,10-perylenediimide
was doped into the pores of the SBANI samples from chloroform solutions.
When excited at the NI absorption maximum (350 nm), PDI-doped SBANIc
showed intense quenching of the NI emission band, even at very low
PDI doping, with quenching efficiencies reaching nearly 80% with only
0.6 mol % PDI (PDI/NI ≈ 1:170). The emission of PDI was observed
at higher doping ratios, even though the PDI hardly absorbs at 350
nm, thus evidencing FRET from the host NI to the guest PDI. SBANI
materials with a suitable amount of the PDI dopant displayed a white
emission, spanning the whole visible spectrum.