Photoluminescent Composites of Lanthanide-Based Nanocrystal-Functionalized Cellulose Fibers for Anticounterfeiting Applications

Abstract

Photoluminescent materials have been applied worldwide in anticounterfeiting and security fields due to their unique performance of better security, easy identification, and difficulty of duplication. Herein, a facile, green, and low-cost strategy to fabricate biomass-based composites composed of lanthanide rare earth ions-doped nanocrystals and cellulose fibers for anticounterfeiting application was presented. The photoluminescent materials were prepared via in situ chemical deposition of rare earth ions onto bleached hardwood pulp cellulose fibers (bhpFibers) surface using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as coupling agent, forming bhpFibers-PVP@LaF3:Eu3+ composites. The bhpFibers-PVP@LaF3:Eu3+ composites showed excellent luminescence, and their fluorescence intensity can be simply controlled by varying the addition of the right amount of lanthanum (La3+) and europium (Eu3+) ions in aqueous medium. Furthermore, the composites have been used as blocks to form photoluminescence paper via a suction filtration procedure. The as-prepared paper possessed excellent luminescence, high flexibility, well writable and printable properties. Moreover, the whole procedure was carried out in a mild environment without toxic reagents. This simple, green, and low-cost technology presented has advantages of wholesale production of biomass-based photoluminescent materials for anticounterfeiting applications.