A Novel Broadband Sensitized and Wide Bandwidth Near-Infrared Luminescent Erbium-Containing Polymer Precursor

A novel erbium-containing polymer precursor (Er(TTA)3(HCQ), TTA = 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone, HCQ = 5-(2-methacryloylethyloxymethyl)-8-quinolinol), was synthesized, and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV–vis absorption and photoluminescent spectra. The complex involves two different organic ligands: 5-(2-methacryloylethyloxymethyl)-8-quinolinol, which is derived from 8-hydroxyquinoline to serve not only as a ligand but also as a functional group for polymer precursor and 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone, which is a critical component for allowing the complex to exhibit desirable photophysical properties. When excited at the absorption band of the ligand (λ ex = 410 nm), the complex shows a characteristic near-infrared emission of the Er ion. The full-width at half-maximum of this emission band is 97 nm, which enables a wide gain bandwidth for optical amplification.