Abstract. Layered oxides intercalated with Eu3+ ions were prepared by self-assembly deposition method based on the electrostatic interaction between negative charged oxide nanosheets and Eu 3+ ions. The layered oxides were composed of two-dimensional host nanosheet layer with guest Eu 3+ ions and gave Eu 3+ emission based on an energy transfer from bandgap excitation of the host oxide nanosheets to the Eu 3+ ions. The photoluminescence properties of the Eu 3+ ions were influenced by the type of nanosheet and the intercalated water molecules. Relatively-strong emission of Eu 3+ was observed from Eu 3+ -intercalated titanate layered oxide. The intensity of Eu 3+ emission increased with increasing the amount of intercalated water molecules. This indicates that the energy transfer from TiO 2-δ nanosheet to Eu 3+ is promoted by the intercalated water molecules. In addition, the intensity of Eu 3+ emission was stronger at high pH than at low pH. This emission change is presumably due to two phenomena. One is a fine hydration state change of Eu 3+ in the interlayer, and the other is a change in energy transfer from the TiO 2-δ nanosheet to Eu 3+ .
IntroductionLayered oxides composed of two-dimensional host oxide layers with guest cations have various interesting properties such as superconducting [1], ferroelectric [2] and photocatalytic properties [3]. These properties strongly depend on the combination between the host layers and the guest cations. Therefore, controlling the combination of layer structure is an important technique for material developing. Generally, two main soft-solution processes are utilized for the preparation of layered structure with desired guest cation into the interlayer. One is the ion-exchange technique carried out in an aqueous solution of a cation of interest, which is substituted for an alkaline cation of the starting layered oxide [4][5][6][7]. The other one is the direct assembly of a host oxide nanosheet and a cation of interest in a solution due to the electrostatic interaction. The latter technique is superior to the former in terms of easy and optimal intercalation of the guest cation. In the latter technique, two methods such as the electrostatic self-assembly deposition (ESD) [8] and layer-by-layer assembly (LBL) techniques [9][10][11] are available to prepare the desired layered oxides. Various kinds of intercalated layered oxides can be easily prepared under controlled pH in a solution by the ESD method, while the LBL method allows us to control the number of layers deposited on a substrate. Nanosheets can be prepared by exfoliation of layered compounds [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. For instance, TiO 2-δ -type nanosheets [12], perovskite-type nanosheets [13][14][15] and hydroxide-type nanosheets [16,17] have been reported. The layered compounds prepared by ESD and LBL techniques have been studied in