We continued to study the quenching mechanism by Fe
3+ toward the supramolecular polymer. First, UV-vis spectra of Fe
3+ and emission spectra of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5, where the absorbance of Fe
3+ barely overlapped with the emission peak of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5 (Fig. S36 in Supporting information), eliminating the possibility of dynamic quenching based on energy transfer [
50]. Hence, we envision some other dominant factors responsible for the fluorescence change. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, PXRD, SEM, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were carried out. In the FT-IR spectra of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5 before and after being treated with Fe
3+, the variation of stretching vibration absorption peaks of -C=O, -NH, and C-S-C groups suggests the coordination of Fe
3+ with these motifs in G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5, resulting in the formation of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5@Fe
3+ (Fig. S37A in Supporting information). Moreover, in the PXRD pattern of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5@Fe
3+, the stacking diffraction peak disappeared, indicating that
π-
π interactions were destroyed. Intriguingly, after adding F
− to G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5@Fe
3+, the peak at 2
θ = 22.73° reappeared (Fig. S37B in Supporting information). These findings verified that F
− can competitively bind with Fe
3+, and G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5 was released. The SEM image of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5 after adding Fe
3+ possessed irregular morphology distinct from the well-ordered three-dimensional microscale cubic structure of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5 at the state of xerogel. Thus, we consider that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds and
π-
π interactions that contributed much to the network structure have been destroyed due to the coordination by Fe
3+. Synchronously, upon further addition of F
− to G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5@Fe
3+, the bulk structure reappeared (Figs. S38A–C in Supporting information), which is consistent with PXRD results. Furthermore, XPS spectra of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5@Fe
3+ showed a pronounced peak at 713 eV due to Fe 2p contribution (Fig. S39A in Supporting information), and the binding energy of Fe 2p (712.5 eV) was different from the peak at 711.5 eV of ferric chloride [
51], where the slight increase of binding energy of Fe 2p was due to the formation of Fe-O bond in metal coordination complex G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5@Fe
3+ (Fig. S39F in Supporting information) [
52]. Meanwhile, the intensity of O 1s at 532.8 eV declines dramatically, demonstrating the change in oxygen-based species in the presence of Fe
3+. The binding energy of 530.8 eV originating from the C=O⋯metal coordination appeared upon adding Fe
3+, further verifying the coordination binding between carbonyl oxygens and Fe
3+ (Fig. S39C in Supporting information) [
53]. Additionally, the binding energy increase of N 1s and S 2p resulted from the formation of N⋯Fe and S⋯Fe coordination (Fig. S39D and S39E in Supporting information) [
54-
56]. In addition, Job's plot suggested that BXDSP5 and Fe
3+ formed a 1:1 complex (Fig. S40 in Supporting information). The above results prove the metal coordination between G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5 and Fe
3+, and the proposed complexation mode of G-(CN)
2⊂BXDSP5 with Fe
3+ is given in Scheme S3 (Supporting information).