Near-infrared luminescence properties of erbium complexes with the substituted phthalocyaninato ligands.

Two homoleptic bis(phthalocyaninato) erbium(III) complexes Er[Pc(beta-OR/R)4]2 and two half-sandwich phthalocyaninato erbium(III) complexes (acac)Er[Pc(beta-OR/R)4] (OR = 1-n-pentyloxy and R = tert-butyl) have been investigated. Then we studied the near-infrared luminescence properties of the compounds. When the phthalocyanine ligands were excited, half-sandwich phthalocyaninato erbium(III) complexes showed strong near-infrared luminescence at 1540 nm while homoleptic bis(phthalocyaninato) erbium(III) complexes showed no signals. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) centered at 1540 nm in the emission spectrum of the half-sandwich complexes in solution and in solid state are 67 nm and 78 nm respectively, which shows potential for optical-amplification applications. Erbium-doped standard polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) matrix which was synthesized has also displayed NIR emission.