Mesogenic and Luminescent Properties of Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Containing Eu(III) and Tb(III) Ions

• Published in: The journal of physical chemistry. B Vol. 116; no. 2; pp. 735 - 742
• Main Authors: Selivanova, Natalia M, Galeeva, Aliya I, Gubaydullin, Aidar T, Lobkov, Vladimir S, Galyametdinov, Yury G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 19-01-2012
• Subjects: Anisotropy; B: Macromolecules, Soft Matter; Lanthanides; Liquid crystals; Luminescence; Materials science; Mesophase; Organizations; Rare earth metals
• ISSN: 1520-6106; 1520-5207
• DOI: 10.1021/jp207734b

Lyotropic metallomesogens containing trivalent rare-earth metal ions have unique attractive behavior due to the combination of some specific properties of the lanthanide ions with anisotropic supramolecular organization liquid crystal and provide new promises in biochemistry and materials science. In this article, we have studied the liquid crystal and luminescence properties of lyotropic systems containing EuIII and TbIII ions based on nonionic surfactants. The type, the structural parameters of the mesophases, and the structure of a liquid crystal complex have been investigated using polarized optical microscopy (POM), X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared. In addition, on the basis of the luminescence lifetime, the structure of the first coordination sphere was determined. The results obtained based on time-resolved spectroscopy data are discussed in the light of the influence ligand environment, ion type, and the type of supramolecular organization on the luminescence efficiency of lyotropic lanthanide containing systems. The first time was reported for EuIII complexes increasing the luminescence efficiency in the hexagonal phase compared to the lamellar mesophase.