Differentiation of photon generation depended on electrospun configuration in Eu3+/Tb3+ doped polyacrylonitrile nanofibers

Tb(acac)₃ (TAH) and Eu(TTA)₃Phen (ETP) doped polyacrylonitriles (PAN) have been electrospun into heterogeneous hybrid TAH/ETP/PAN and core-shell structured [(TAH/PAN)_core + (ETP/PAN)_shell] wire-shaped flexible nanofibers with diameter of ∼350 nm. Differential photon releasing behaviors reveal the double-color-emitting potential of Tb³⁺/Eu³⁺ combination systems and verify the effectiveness of coaxial configuration in avoiding the cross-relaxation between different rare earth ions. Luminous fluxes of the hybrid and the coaxial systems exceed 283.5 and 326.3 μlm under the excitation of 308 nm UVB-LED pump source, respectively. By adopting coaxial electrospun configuration, the color coordinates are tuned from (0.561, 0.332) in TAH/ETP/PAN to (0.435, 0.366) in [(TAH/PAN)_core + (ETP/PAN)_shell] fibers, which demonstrates that the core-shell structure is promising to extend the dimension of color tuning. Nanofibrosis and electrospun configurations furnish a desired approach to develop multifunctional one-dimensional nanomaterials for color displays and optoelectronic sensors.