Luminescence Properties of Electrospun Nanofibers of Europium Complex Eu(TTA)3Phen/Polymers☆

Photoactive rare-earth (RE) complex electrospun nanofibers possess improved photoluminescence properties, thermal stability and mechanical flexibility with large surface area to volume and pore size within nano range. In this paper, we report the fabrication of electrospun nanofibers of europium complex Eu(TTA)3phen using electrospinning technique. Europium complex Eu(TTA)3phen (TTA=thenoyltrifluoroacetone, phen=1,10-phenanthroline) was synthesized by solution technique and then used for the preparation of electrospun nanofibers using different polymers such as PMMA, PVdF and PS to study the photoluminescence properties. Electrospun nanofibers of europium complex Eu(TTA)3phen were prepared by controlling syringe pump at a flow rate 0.3 ml/hr, electric field 20 kV and tip-to-collector distance 15 cm. The diameters of the fibers were found to be in 500 to 900 nm, 300 to 500 nm and 200 to 300 nm respectively for Eu(TTA)3phen/PMMA, Eu(TTA)3phen/PS and Eu(TTA)3phen/PVdF. Photoluminescence study of the fibers show typical Eu3+ ion red emission, assigned to the transitions between the first excited state (5D0) and the multiplet (7F0-4). The enhanced intensity ratios of 5D0→7F2 to 5D0→7F1 of the composite nanofibers indicated a more polarized chemical environment of Eu3+ ions and relatively stronger hypersensitive behavior of the 5D0→7F2 transition show the potential application in various polymer optoelectronic devices.