Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Polymer Systems Doped with Rare-Earth Metal Ions and Their Complexes

Abstract

There has been an increased attention to explore the possibility of using polymer materials with rare-earth (RE) metal ions and their complexes as potential optical materials due to their capability of exhibiting novel and unusual properties. The fluorescence characteristics of polymer systems doped with RE metal ions and/or their complexes were analyzed and the effects of the doping metal ion/metal complexes as well as nature of the material were discussed. Electron transitions of REs can be manipulated by efficient ligand designs and proper doping into the polymer matrix. Emphasis was especially focused on the accommodation of the metal ion/metal complex in polymer matrix as well as its role in fluorescence. The photochemistry of the fluorescent polymer matrices with RE complexes is expected to open up frontier fields that lie between photophysics and materials science. Recent developments on a new aspect of these technologies related to the fluorescence dynamics in polymer analysis will also be discussed in this present review.

Keywords:

• Fluorescence
• polymer
• rare-earth metal ions
• metal complexes