Synthesis and photophysical properties of novel organic-inorganic hybrid materials covalently linked to a europium complex

A novel sol-gel derived hybrid material (classed as Eu-DBM-Si) covalently grafted with Eu(DBM-OH)(3).2H(2)O (where DBM-OH=o-hydroxydibenzoylmethane) was prepared through the primary beta-diketone ligand DBM-OH. All the synthesized ligands were characterized by H-1 NMR, elemental analyses and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR). The resultant Eu-DBM-Si material exhibited good transparent and homogenous property. Compared to the Eu-DBM hybrid prepared by physically doped silicon dioxide with Eu(DBM-OH)V2H2O, the Eu-DBM-Si hybrid presented more efficient ligand-to-Eu3+ energy transfer and a significant improvement in the measured emission quantum yield. Furthermore, the photophysical properties of these hybrid materials, such as the photoluminescence (PL) spectra, PL intensities, symmetry properties. lifetime decays, and Judd-Ofelt parameters were also investigated in detail. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.