Highly fluorinated erbium(III) complexes for emission in the C-band

• Two perfluorinated β-diketonate Er3+ complexes were synthesized and characterized.
• Sparkle/PM7 is very suitable when dealing with incomplete structural data.
• Efficient energy transfer from ligands to Er3+ is achieved by antenna effect.
• Their PL emission in the C-band has applications in waveguides and NIR-OLEDs.

Two highly fluorinated Er3+ complexes with three 6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octanedionate (fod) groups and either bipyridine (bipy) or bathophenantholine (bath) as the ancillary ligand emitting at the C-band (third communication window for fiber transmission) are presented. These complexes are the result of a design process aimed at decreasing the vibrational quenching from high frequency oscillators. The structure of [Er(fod)3(bipy)] has been elucidated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, while Sparkle/PM6 and Sparkle/PM7 semi-empirical calculations have been used to model the ground state geometry for [Er(fod)3(bath)]. Photoluminescence studies confirm sensitization of the Er3+ ions by antenna effect, leading to NIR emission at 1.53 μm. This energy transfer proves to be more efficient for [Er(fod)3(bath)] as a result of the bulkier and more rigid structure of bath diimide. The good thermal stability of the materials up to over 200 °C allows envisaging their use in erbium-doped waveguides, NIR-OLEDs or other optoelectronic devices.

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