NIR-to-NIR emission on a water-soluble {Er6} and {Er3Yb3} nanosized molecular wheel

Abstract

Near-Infrared emissions are highly important in biological and telecommunications technology. For the first time, NIR-to-NIR emission was achieved in a water-soluble molecular cluster-aggregate. The erbium analogue of the highly tunable [Ln₆(teaH)₆(NO₃)₆] complex emits at 1530 nm with direct excitation at 980 nm, and can be boosted by replacing three erbium ions with three ytterbium(III), in the molecular structure. The presented methodology is a unique approach to probe the effect of composition control and harness the luminescence properties of nanoscale molecular material.