Luminescent heteroleptic samarium (III) complexes: Synthesis, optical and photophysical investigation

Abstract

• We have synthesized photoluminescent ternary samarium β-diketonate complexes with heterocyclic neutral ligands. • Optical and luminescent nature of red color emissive ternary samarium complexes have been studied in detail. • Photoluminescence emission spectra specify that β-diketone ligand efficiently sensitized Sm(III) ion via antenna effect. • Synthesized luminescent materials could found good significance in solid state electronics, flat panel devices and OLEDs. The octa coordinated complexes of Sm 3+ with dibenzoylmethane (DBM) having general formula [Sm(X) 3 (Y)] were synthesized in powdered form and characterized spectroscopically. Here, X is dibenzoylmethane (DBM) and Y represents respective substituted 2,2 ′ -bipyridine derivatives. The luminescent characteristics of ternary samarium complexes have been studied in detail. Upon excitation in UV range, bands at 566 nm, 606 nm, 648 nm (highly intense) and 710 nm were appeared in emission spectra of complexes attributed to characteristic transitions of Sm(III) ion. The luminescence in complexes is observed mainly because of (i) good sensitization of Sm(III) ion by auxiliary units (ii) removal of non-radiative deactivation routes by vibrations of O-H and N-H bonds. Various investigations reveal the similar structure of all the synthesized samarium complexes. The emissive properties of Sm(III) complexes show that these complexes might be utilized as good candidate in lighting and display sources.