Preparation and luminescence properties of Sm(TTA)3phen/NBR composites

In the present study, we examined the luminescent properties of uncured and cured samarium tris-(2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone)-1,10-phenanthroline/nitrile rubber composites (Sm(TTA)3phen/NBR, i.e. Sm-complex/NBR). The formula of Sm-complex was determined by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and elementary analysis. The composites were investigated and characterized by photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-rays diffraction (XRD). The characteristic emission fluorescent intensities of the Sm3+ in both uncured and cured composites increase with the increase of Sm-complex content. For the nitrile rubber composites with the same content of Sm(TTA)3phen, the uncured composites are found to have lower luminescent intensity than that of cured composites. To explain this result, we propose that the cross-linking network structure can help to stabilize the coordination environment of the Sm3+ ion and improve the energy transfer efficiency from the outside energy to the central Sm3+ ion. In our study, the rare earth organic complexes were dispersed homogeneously into the NBR matrix. The fluorescent intensity of the composites was high and no fluorescent quenching had been observed until the complexes concentration was up to 14.3%.