A terbium chlorobismuthate(III) double salt: Synthesis, structure, and photophysical properties

We report on the structure and luminescence of a double salt trivalent rare earth ion acceptor, Tb3+, with octahedral [BiCl6]3- donor clusters. The novel TbBiCl6·14H2O (1) was prepared from aqueous BiOCl and TbCl3·6H2O. The crystal structure of compound 1 exhibits isolated [BiCl6]3- and [Tb(OH2)8]3+ clusters. Luminescence data show energy transfer from octahedral chlorobismuthate(III) clusters to rare earth metal ions. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations show distinctly different emission pathways at high and low excitation energies.