Multi-color fluorescence in rare earth acetylacetonate hydrate doped poly methyl methacrylate

Abstract Europium and terbium acetylacetonate hydrates were doped into poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA). Efficient purplish-red and green fluorescence was obtained from europium acetylacetonate hydrates (EAH) and terbium acetylacetonate hydrates (TAH) doped PMMA respectively. Judd–Ofelt parameters Ω 2 (19.73×10 −20  cm 2 ) and Ω 4 (2.19×10 −20  cm 2 ) indicate a high inversion asymmetric and strong covalent environment in PMMA. The maximum stimulated emission cross-sections for the 5 D 0 → 7 F J ( J =1, 2 and 4) transitions in EAH doped PMMA were calculated to be 0.38×10 −21 , 4.90×10 −21 and 0.36×10 −21  cm 2 , respectively. Variable fluorescence color can be efficiently achieved from the cooperation of three fluorescence colors offered by red (Eu 3+ ), green (Tb 3+ ) and blue (ligand) in EAH/TAH codoped PMMA by adjusting the excitation wavelength. These results indicate that PMMA is an effective photoluminescence co-sensitizer and PMMA doped with rare earth acetylacetonate hydrates is a promising candidate for a series of optoelectronic functional devices.