Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate sensitizing effect on the photophysical properties of environment friendly fluorescent films containing europium complex

A series of environment friendly Eu/PHB fluorescent films through doped the Eu-complex precursor Eu(TTA)2(Tpy-OCH3)(2H2O) into polymer matrices poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) with doping percentage at 1, 3, 5, and 7 (mass) were designed, fabricated and characterized. TGA and PL results indicated the Eu-complex precursor was immobilized in PHB matrix through the interaction between the Eu-complex. DSC results indicated the crystallinity of Eu/PHB films decreased with the increase of Eu-complex doping percentage. The emission spectra of the Eu-complex and Eu/PHB films recorded at room temperature exhibited the characteristic bands arising from the 5D0/7FJ. The fact that the quantum efficiencies (η) of the doped film increased significantly revealed that the PHB matrix acts as an efficient co-sensitizer for Eu3+ ions luminescent center and therefore enhances the quantum efficiency of the emitter 5D0 level. In particular, all Eu/PHB films can be excited by visible light (410 nm), and also showed good photoluminescent properties. So the new Eu/PHB fluorescent films showed considerable promise for polymer light-emitting diode, active polymer optical fiber and biomedical analysis applications.