A long-life green fluorescent waterborne polyurethane-based Tb(III) ternary complex with UV shielding

A green fluorescent complex [Tb(PABA)3Phen] with fluorescence lifetime up to 0.837 ms was synthesized in ethanol by using p-aminobenzoic acid as the first ligand, o-phenanthroline as the second ligand and Tb3+ as the central ion. A long-life green fluorescent waterborne polyurethane-base Tb(III) ternary complex (Tb-WPU) with UV shielding was prepared by a modified acetone method using Tb(PABA)3Phen as chain extender. The structure and properties were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), fluorescence spectroscopy (FL), etc. The absolute value of Zeta potential increases with the increase of Tb(PABA)3Phen content, and all of them are greater than 40. Tb-WPU can effectively shield UV in the range of 200 nm–315 nm. With the increase of Tb(PABA)3Phen content, the fluorescence intensity of Tb-WPU increased gradually and the luminous life is up to an astonishing 1.375 ms. The initial thermal decomposition temperature of Tb-WPU is above 220 °C. In addition，Tb-WPU uses water as the dispersed phase and is suitable for environmental protection.