Emission color tuning in semiconducting polymer nanotubes by energy transfer to organo-lanthanide dopants

The tuning of emission chromaticity in semiconducting polymer nanotubes by energy transfer from the host polymer to luminescent chromophore organo-lanthanide dopants, by selecting poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) as a host matrix, was reported. The absorption spectrum of organo-lathanide chelate exhibits significant spectral overlap with the PVK polymer emission resulting in the energy transfer from the host polymer to the ligands of the dopant complexes and sensitization of lanthanide ions. The extinction coefficient of the dopant is comparatively high and both the photoluminescence (PL)quantum yield of the host and the extent of overlap between host emission and dopant absorption spectra are low. Selective area electron diffraction (SAED) data of PVK and lanthanide dopants show the disk like features in different patterns suggesting a liquid-like structure where only short-range molecular correlations are present.