Photoluminescence characterization of aged and regenerated mesoporous silica

The investigation of the photoluminescence features of aged and regenerated mesoporous silica is reported. The emission spectrum of aged samples displays a blue band peaked at about 450 nm at room temperature with excitation channels at 250 and 200 nm. No UV emission band is detected. The regenerated samples recover the optical transparency of the samples, the vibrational properties in the 3000–3800 cm− 1 but for the isolated silanols band and the UV-blue emission features. Indeed beside the blue band peaked around 450 nm a UV band centred at 340 nm is reported whose relative contribution depends on the excitation wavelength. The aging and regeneration processes are discussed in view of the attribution of the observed emission features to specific surface defects.