Effect of Aliphatic Chain Length in the Ligand on Photophysical Properties and Thin Films Morphology of the Europium Complexes

Abstract

Chelating ligands based on polydentate diamides of 2,2'-bipyridyl-6,6'-dicarboxylic acid with a high affinity for lanthanide ions have been synthesized. The effect of the size of lipophilic aliphatic substituents in the ligand on the photophysical characteristics of europium complexes in acetonitrile solutions and in the solid state, as well as on the morphology of thin films obtained by the spin-coating method, was studied. The external and internal luminescence quantum yields have been measured, the luminescence lifetimes at 300 and 77 K were determined, and the sensitization efficiency values for europium complexes were calculated. The phosphorescence of gadolinium(III) complexes was used to determine the energy difference between the triplet level of the ligand and the resonance level of europium.