Novel luminescent hybrids by incorporating rare earth β-diketonates into polymers through ion pairing with an imidazolium counter ion

Abstract

A series of luminescent polymers are synthesized by incorporating rare earth complex units into polymer matrices. Firstly, we functionalize the selected polymer matrices with the imidazolium moieties, and then introduce the rare earth tetrakis(β-diketonate) complexes into polymer matrices through a mild anion exchange method. The resulting materials are characterized by FTIR, XRD, EDAX, SEM, thermogravimetric analysis, luminescence excitation spectra and emission spectra, luminescence lifetime measurements and diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectra. The photoluminescence measurements indicate that all these rare earth complex functionalized polymers exhibit a characteristic luminescence emission originating from the corresponding rare earth ions. Among the hybrids, the europium tetrakis(TTA) complex functionalized polymers show remarkable luminescence quantum yields and relatively long ⁵D₀ lifetimes at room temperature.