<title>Fluorescent thin gel films using organic dyes and pigments</title>

Abstract

New organic-inorganic fluorescent thin gel films included with laser dyes or fluorescent organic pigments have been prepared for display application. The florescent dyes (benzoxazolium, pyrromethene, and rhodamine dyes) and super-fine particles of fluorescent pigments (coumarin and perylene) were successfully incorporated into thin silicate gel films prepared from tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), methyltriethoxysilane (MTES), and methoxysilane oligomer (MTSO) under acid catalyzed hydrolysis. The blue, green, and red luminescence were observed from these thin films (thickness: 100 - 400 nm), respectively. Fluorescence spectra, fluorescent quantum yield and lifetime of thin gel films are examined. Fluorescent peaks for most of dyes and pigments used in gel films were similar to those in solution, and fluorescent lifetime for dyes and pigments used in gel films were 2.9 - 4.5 ns. Photostability of fluorescent gel films is dependent on fluorescent organic dyes and pigments used and/or silicate gel matrixes. Coumarin and perylene pigments have higher fluorescent quantum yield in gel film prepared from MTSO. The large Stokes shift was observed in fluorescent gel film using coumarin and benzoxazolium dyes. The coumarin and perylene pigments are significantly photo- stable in gel film prepared from MTSO, and photodegradation of perylene red after irradiation of 500 W Xi-lamp for 30 min is below 20%.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.