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Description
Gelatin is a natural polymer widely used in the food, cosmetics, and biomedical industries. In particular, gelatin hydrogels are used as dressings for wound management and tissue regeneration. Macroporous gelatin-based hybrid hydrogels also have potential applications in regenerative medicine, particularly in bone and cartilage repair. However, gelatin has several limitations that restrict its use as a high-technology material. Some of these limitations, including low mechanical strength and poor thermal stability, can be addressed by developing functional composite materials. It is also worth noting that interactions between the gelatin matrix and incorporated inorganic particles may enhance the properties of the latter. For example, the photoluminescence intensity of gelatin@ZnO particles was reported to be 50% higher than that of the pristine oxide [1].
In this work, the effects of K2Eu(PO4)(WO4) red phosphor on the optical and dielectric properties of the gelatin matrix were investigated. K2Eu(PO4)(WO4)@gelatin composites prepared by gelatin and oxide phosphor simultaneously grinding, were characterized using optical microscopy, ATR-FTIR, diffuse reflectance, photoluminescence, and dielectric spectroscopies.
The results demonstrated that grinding reduced the gelatin particle size from approximately 400–900 μm to 40–300 μm. Changes in the amide-related bands in the ATR-FTIR spectra of gelatin suggest that some moisture was released from the samples during grinding. The light absorption of raw and ground gelatin in the 220–400 nm spectral range was attributed to the absorption of peptide bonds in proteins and aromatic residues. The estimated band gap value was identical for the gelatin and K2Eu(PO4)(WO4)@gelatin composite samples, indicating that the fundamental electronic properties of the polymer were unchanged. The composite sample exhibited an additional absorption band with a peak near 260 nm, which was attributed to O→Eu charge-transfer transitions. The photoluminescence intensity of the three gelatin components, with band maxima at 512 nm, 596 nm, and 674 nm, decreased by a factor of two in the composite compared with the gelatin sample. The temperature-dependent photoluminescence and dielectric properties of gelatin indicated an interaction between gelatin and the phosphor. Thus, K2Eu(PO4)(WO4)@gelatin can be considered a luminescent composite that exhibits additional functional properties compared to those of individual components.
Acknowledgements. The study was financed by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (project № 2025.07/0341)
References
[1] N. Babayevska, Ł. Przysiecka, G. Nowaczyk, et al. Materials 14 (2020) 103.
| Type of presence | Presence at Taras Shevchenko National University |
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