Luminescence and crystal-field analysis of europium and terbium complexes with oxydiacetate and 1,10-phenanthroline

Abstract

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of Eu(III) and Tb(III) complexes with mixed oxydiacetate (ODA) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) ligands and with homoleptic ODA reveal characteristic line-splitting at 10 K, depending on the site-symmetry of the lanthanide ion in the complex. The energy-level schemes of the 7FJ states and the emitting levels for Eu(III) and Tb(III) ions have been proposed by simulating the line splitting in the framework of crystal-field Hamiltonian. The sets of refined crystal-field parameters for the experimentally determined site-symmetry satisfactorily reproduce the experimental energy-level schemes. In addition, the PL quantum yield and the decay time were determined at room temperature. The PL quantum yields of [Eu(ODA)·(phen)·4H2O]+ and [Tb(ODA)·(phen)·4H2O]+ in the crystalline state (Q = 17.7 and Q = 56.6%, respectively) are much greater than those of [Eu(ODA)3]3- and [Tb(ODA)3]3- (Q =1.1 and Q = 1.3, respectively), due to the energy transfer from phen to the lanthanide ion. In the aqueous state, the relaxation of the phen moiety due to the solvent results in the reduction of the quantum yield and the shortening of the lifetime.