Fabrication and luminescence properties of rare earth complex grafted carbon fiber

Luminescence enhanced carbon fibers are important materials for sensing technology. In this work, rare earth Europium (Eu3+) complexes are successfully grafted onto carbon fiber (CF) and endue the CF fluorescence characteristics. The results show that the Eu-complex grafted onto CF (CEuCF) obtained sharp red emission attributed to 5D0→7F1 and 5D0→7F2 of Eu3+. The surface roughness of CF changed after fluorescence properties were given to them. With the increasing of Eu content, the fluorescence intensity of CF increased first and then decreased, and reached the highest value when the molar ratio of Eu was 2 mmol. The energy transfer in the CEuCF was also discussed in detail. Enduing CF luminous properties could broaden its application areas.