skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Covert MOF-Based Photoluminescent Tags via Tunable Linker Energetics

Journal Article · · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

We report that the optical anticounterfeiting tags utilize the photoluminescent properties of materials to encode unique patterns, enabling identification and validation of important items and assets. These tags must combine optical complexity with ease of production and authentication to both prevent counterfeiting and to remain practical for widespread use. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) based on polynuclear, rare earth clusters are ideal materials platforms for this purpose, combining fine control over structure and composition, with tunable, complex energy transfer mechanisms via both linker and metal components. Here we report the design and synthesis of a set of heterometallic MOFs based on combinations of Eu, Nd, and Yb with the tetratopic linker 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)pyrene. The energetics of this linker facilitate the intentional concealment of the visible emissions from Eu while retaining the infrared emissions of Nd and Yb, creating an optical tag with multiple covert elements. Unique to the materials system reported herein, we document the occurrence of a previously not observed 11-metal cluster correlated with the presence of Yb in the MOFs, coexisting with a commonly encountered 9-metal cluster. We demonstrate the utility of these materials as intricate optical tags with both rapid and in-depth screening techniques, utilizing orthogonal identifiers across composition, emission spectra, and emission decay dynamics. This work highlights the important effect of linker selection in controlling the resulting photoluminescent properties in MOFs and opens an avenue for the targeted design of highly complex, multifunctional optical tags.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0003525
OSTI ID:
1855802
Report Number(s):
SAND2022-2535J; 703879
Journal Information:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 14, Issue 2; ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (48)

Lanthanide Organic Framework Luminescent Thermometers journal August 2016
Luminescent Supraparticles Based on CaF 2 –Nanoparticle Building Blocks as Code Objects with Unique IDs journal December 2019
Near-Infrared Luminescent Lanthanide MOF Barcodes journal December 2009
Tunable Rare-Earth fcu-MOFs: A Platform for Systematic Enhancement of CO2 Adsorption Energetics and Uptake journal May 2013
Self-Assembly of Heterobimetallic d−f Hybrid Complexes:  Sensitization of Lanthanide Luminescence by d-Block Metal-to-Ligand Charge-Transfer Excited States journal August 2004
A Guest-Responsive Fluorescent 3D Microporous Metal−Organic Framework Derived from a Long-Lifetime Pyrene Core
  • Stylianou, Kyriakos C.; Heck, Romain; Chong, Samantha Y.
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 132, Issue 12, p. 4119-4130 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja906041f
journal March 2010
Excitation Wavelength-Dependent Dual-Mode Luminescence Emission for Dynamic Multicolor Anticounterfeiting journal May 2019
Fluoro-Bridged Clusters in Rare-Earth Metal–Organic Frameworks journal October 2021
Rapid Visual Authentication Based on DNA Strand Displacement journal April 2021
Tuning the Dual Emission of Photon-Upconverting Nanoparticles for Ratiometric Multiplexed Encoding journal February 2011
Correlation between the lowest triplet state energy level of the ligand and lanthanide(III) luminescence quantum yield journal September 1997
Inside-Out/Outside-In Tunability in Nanosized Lanthanide-Based Molecular Cluster-Aggregates: Modulating the Luminescence Thermometry Performance via Composition Control journal September 2021
Luminescent multifunctional lanthanides-based metal–organic frameworks journal January 2011
New Sensitizer-Modified Calix[4]arenes Enabling Near-UV Excitation of Complexed Luminescent Lanthanide Ions journal September 1995
Rigidifying Fluorescent Linkers by Metal–Organic Framework Formation for Fluorescence Blue Shift and Quantum Yield Enhancement journal May 2014
Optical Nanomaterials and Enabling Technologies for High‐Security‐Level Anticounterfeiting journal June 2019
Lanthanide-based molecular alloys with hydroxyterephthalate: a versatile system journal January 2021
Efficient Sensitization of Europium, Ytterbium, and Neodymium Functionalized Tris-Dipicolinate Lanthanide Complexes through Tunable Charge-Transfer Excited States journal November 2008
Luminescent metal–organic frameworks journal January 2009
Building a shp : A Rare-Earth Metal–Organic Framework and Its Application in a Catalytic Photooxidation Reaction journal May 2021
Triple-Mode Emission of Carbon Dots: Applications for Advanced Anti-Counterfeiting journal May 2016
Multicolor upconverted luminescence-encoded superparticles via controlling self-assembly based on hydrophobic lanthanide-doped NaYF4 nanocrystals journal January 2011
The Extent of Pyrene Excimer Fluorescence Emission Is a Reflector of Distance and Flexibility: Analysis of the Segment Linking the LDL Receptor-Binding and Tetramerization Domains of Apolipoprotein E3 journal July 2012
Multi-Emissive Lanthanide-Based Coordination Polymers for Potential Application as Luminescent Bar-Codes journal February 2019
Blue, green, and red full-color ultralong afterglow in nitrogen-doped carbon dots journal January 2019
A Long Journey in Lanthanide Chemistry: From Fundamental Crystallogenesis Studies to Commercial Anticounterfeiting Taggants journal April 2016
Multifunctional, Tunable Metal–Organic Framework Materials Platform for Bioimaging Applications journal June 2017
Conformational Locking by Design: Relating Strain Energy with Luminescence and Stability in Rigid Metal–Organic Frameworks journal November 2012
Efficient synthesis of pyrene-1-carbothioamides and carboxamides. Tunable solid-state fluorescence of pyrene-1-carboxamides journal January 2014
Turn-On Fluorescence in Tetraphenylethylene-Based Metal–Organic Frameworks: An Alternative to Aggregation-Induced Emission journal December 2011
Geminate labels programmed by two-tone microdroplets combining structural and fluorescent color journal January 2021
Multifunctionality and Crystal Dynamics of a Highly Stable, Porous Metal−Organic Framework [Zn 4 O(NTB) 2 ] journal May 2005
A Fine-Tuned Metal–Organic Framework for Autonomous Indoor Moisture Control journal July 2017
Tuning the Triplet Energy Levels of Pyrazolone Ligands to Match the 5 D 0 Level of Europium(III) journal November 2005
Versatile rare earth hexanuclear clusters for the design and synthesis of highly-connected ftw -MOFs journal January 2015
Luminophoric organic molecules for anticounterfeit printing ink applications: an up-to-date review journal December 2020
Hybrid Plasmonic/Photonic Nanoscale Strategy for Multilevel Anticounterfeit Labels journal October 2021
Host Differential Sensitization toward Color/Lifetime‐Tuned Lanthanide Coordination Polymers for Optical Multiplexing journal October 2020
Interface construction in microporous metal–organic frameworks from luminescent terbium-based building blocks journal September 2019
Design of luminescent lanthanide complexes: From molecules to highly efficient photo-emitting materials journal March 2010
An Advanced Tunable Multimodal Luminescent La 4 GeO 8 : Eu 2+ , Er 3+ Phosphor for Multicolor Anticounterfeiting journal May 2021
Encoding Multilayer Complexity in Anti‐Counterfeiting Heterometallic MOF‐Based Optical Tags journal December 2020
Visible-Light Excited Luminescent Thermometer Based on Single Lanthanide Organic Frameworks journal October 2016
Luminescent Oxygen-Sensitive Ink to Produce Highly Secured Anticounterfeiting Labels by Inkjet Printing journal July 2020
Discovery and introduction of a (3,18)-connected net as an ideal blueprint for the design of metal–organic frameworks journal June 2014
Antibody Targeted Metal–Organic Frameworks for Bioimaging Applications journal June 2020
Carbon Dot Fluorescence-Lifetime-Encoded Anti-Counterfeiting journal August 2018
Linker Desymmetrization: Access to a Series of Rare-Earth Tetracarboxylate Frameworks with Eight-Connected Hexanuclear Nodes journal January 2021