Luminescent solutions and films of new europium complexes with chelating ligands

Abstract: The development of new complexes of rare earth elements (REE) with chelating organic ligands opens up the possibility of purposeful alteration in the composition and structure of the complexes, and therefore tuning their optical properties. New ligands possessing two pyridine rings in their structure were synthesized to improve coordination properties and photophysical characteristics of REE compounds. Complexes of trivalent europium with novel chelating ligands were investigated using luminescence and absorption spectroscopy, as well as atomic force microscopy. Luminescence properties of new compounds were studied both for solutions and films deposited on the solid support. All complexes exhibit the characteristic red luminescence of Eu (III) ion with the absolute lumenescence quantum yield in polar acetonitrile solution varying from 0.21 to 1.45 % and emission lifetime ranged from 0.1 to 1 ms. Excitation spectra of Eu coordination complexes correspond with absorption bands of chelating ligand. The energy levels of the triplet state of the new ligands were determined from the phosphorescence at 77 K of the corresponding Gd (III) complexes. The morphology of films of europium complexes with different substituents in the organic ligands was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). It strongly depends both on the type of substituent in the organic ligand, and the rotation speed of the spin-coater. New europium complexes with chelating ligands containing additional pyridine fragments represent outstanding candidates for phosphors with improved luminescence properties.