Layered materials of zirconium phosphate containing Zr(HPO₄)₂•6H₂O (hydrated α-ZrP) and Zr(HPO₄)₂•butylammonium (α-ZrP•BA), which have similar interlayer distance, were prepared. The incorporation of the luminescent metal complex tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) within the layered materials expands the interlayer distance from 1.04 to 1.52 nm. When the metal complex assembled to the layered frameworks, the absorption band of the complex was red shifted from 452 to 462 nm. In the hydrated α-ZrP framework, the emission intensity of the complex was over 2-fold compared to that of the same system in aqueous solution and the position of the maximum emission was blue shifted from 610 (aqueous solution) to 604 nm. After the assembly suspension deposited for 4 h, the emission intensity of was reduced by only 4%. However, in α-ZrP•BA, the luminescence intensity of the complex had a little increase and the emission peak was shifted to 595 nm. The emission intensity of decreased by 29% when the suspension was deposited for 4 h. Time-resolved studies manifest that the excited state lifetime of was extended from 415 to 787 ns (～95%) in the hydrated α-ZrP, whereas the lifetime is 747 ns (～89%) in the α-ZrP•BA.

Key words: zirconium phosphate, assembly, luminescence