Photoluminescence lifetime stability studies of β-diketonate europium complexes based phenanthroline derivatives in poly(methyl methacrylate) films.

Abstract

In this work, five phenanthroline derivatives substituted with different methyl groups have been selected to synthesize β-diketonate-based europium complexes to check the influence of the substitutions on the degradation effect of those complexes in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films. The photophysical properties of Eu(III) complexes, including absorbance, excitation, and emission have been carefully investigated in solution, solid-state, and doped in PMMA film. In all these states, the complexes exhibit an impressive red emission at 614 nm with a high photoluminescence quantum yield of up to 85 %. The films have been exposed under outdoor, indoor, and dark storage stability lifetime conditions for 1200 hours. The photoluminescence measurements recorded every 400, 800, and 1200 hours demonstrated that the film containing europium complex with phenanthroline ligand substituted by a high number of methyl groups (Eu(TTA)3L5) showed good photoluminescent stability in indoor and dark conditions, and exhibited better resistance to degradation in outdoor conditions compared to other complexes. This study has proved that phenanthroline ligands could be tuned chemically leading to better stability of those types of complexes in films which can be end-used for future stable optoelectronic devices such as luminescent solar concentrators.