Europium/1,3,5-Benzenetricarboxylic Acid Metal–Organic Framework Nanorods Decorated with CdSe Quantum Dots as Coatings for Noncontact Ratiometric Optical Temperature Sensing
Jiannan Sun, Pan Zhang, Ke Yan, Aizhao Pan, Chen Fei, Jun Hong, Chunyu Zhao, Xuehang Chen, Wei Xiong
Abstract
The development of temperature sensing platforms based on the dual-emission optical response principle has received much attention for their remarkable potential, while the design of sensitive and reliable thermometers remains an unresolved challenge. Herein, we successfully fabricated a dual-emission temperature probe by attaching CdSe quantum dots to europium/1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (Eu-BTC) metal–organic framework nanorods, followed by deposition on a POSS-based polymer film, which afforded the construction of a temperature-responsive specialized coating that yielded outstanding temperature responses, high sensitivity, adhesion, and hydrophobicity. The time-dependent effect of the dimensions and quantum dot distribution in the CdSe/Eu-BTC materials was then investigated by reaction time modulation to obtain the best morphology (quantum dot dimension of 3.3 ± 0.8 nm). Due to the contrasting thermally responsive photoluminescent behaviors of CdSe quantum dots and Eu-BTC, temperature-dependent measurements revealed that the specialized coating exhibited significant exponential temperature sensing performances ( R 2 = 0.99772) and high relative sensitivity (3.02%°C –1 ). Moreover, the specialized coating displayed superior adhesive properties (1.385 MPa on the surface of steel) and hydrophobicity (103°) due to the addition of POSS-based copolymers. This work presents a feasible strategy for designing high-performance solid-state nanoluminescent temperature probes, offering great promise for the development of ratiometric temperature sensing systems with high sensitivity.