Highly Efficient Visible-to-NIR Luminescence of Lanthanide(III) Complexes with Zwitterionic Ligands Bearing Charge-Transfer Character: Beyond Triplet Sensitization

Two zwitterionic-type ligands featuring -* and intraligand charge-transfer (ILCT) excited states, namely 1,1-(2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-1,4-phenylene)bis(methylene)dipyridinium-4-olate (TMPBPO) and 1-dodecylpyridin-4(1H)-one (DOPO), have been prepared and applied to the assembly of lanthanide coordination complexes in an effort to understand the ligand-direction effect on the structure of the Ln complexes and the ligand sensitization effect on the luminescence of the Ln complexes. Due to the wide-band triplet states plus additional ILCT excitation states extending into lower energy levels, broadly and strongly sensitized photoluminescence of ff transitions from various Ln(3+) ions were observed to cover the visible to near-infrared (NIR) regions. Among which, the Pr, Sm, Dy, and Tm complexes simultaneously display both strong visible and NIR emissions. Based on the isostructural feature of the Ln complexes, color tuning and single-component white light was achieved by preparation of solid solutions of the ternary systems Gd-Eu-Tb (for TMPBPO) and La-Eu-Tb and La-Dy-Sm (for DOPO). Moreover, the visible and NIR luminescence lifetimes of the Ln complexes with the TMPBPO ligand were investigated from 77 to 298K, revealing a strong temperature dependence of the Tm3+ (H-3(4)) and Yb3+ (F-2(5/2)) decay dynamics, which has not been explored before for their coordination complexes.