Our Facebook account

Yu. G. Galyametdinov^1,2*, A. S. Krupin¹, D. O. Sagdeev¹, M. E. Karyakin¹, R. R. Shamilov¹, A. A. Knyazev¹

Author affiliations
¹Kazan National Research Technological University, Kazan, Russia
²Kazan E. K. Zavoisky Physical-Technical Institute, Kazan, Russia
*Corresponding author: yugal2002@mail.ru

Abstract
Luminescent composite materials based on the polymorphic Eu(III) Eu(CPDK_3-5)₃Bpy_17-17 exhibiting smectic and nematic mesomorphism and doped with quantum dots (QDs) of "core-shell" type CdSe/CdS/ZnS have been obtained. The composites were prepared by dispersing the quantum dots in the Eu(III) complex hexane solution, with further crystallization. Films were created by deposition a dispersion onto a quartz substrate by spin-coating, further heating to the transition temperature to an isotropic liquid, and cooling. The optical and luminescent properties of the composites in dispersions and films have been studied. It is shown that the luminescence intensity of the components changes in proportion to their content in the composite, which means that there is no Förster resonance energy transfer between the QDs and Eu(III) complex, which is traditionally observed in such systems. The distribution of QDs aggregates in the LC matrix of Eu(III) complex was studied by polarizing optical microscopy. A uniform distribution of QDs agglomerates in LC matrix is shown. Due to high luminescence efficiency, the obtained composites are promising for tracer studies.

Keywords: liquid crystals, lanthanide complexes, quantum dots, composites, luminescence