Photophysics and Triplet Sensitization of the Molecular Lanthanide YbQ3
- 1School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
- 2School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Abstract
The energy transfer mechanism between organic ligands and lanthanide-based near-infrared emitters, such as ytterbium ions (Yb3+), is of great photophysical interest. In recent years, lanthanides have attracted attention for their capacity for both up-and down-conversion for a range of applications. While lanthanides generally have extremely small absorption cross-sections, their light-matter interaction can be complemented by an appropriate choice of chromophore ligand. Here, we investigate intramolecular ligand-to-Yb3+ triplet energy transfer in ytterbium tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (YbQ3) molecule as well as the intermolecular sensitization of Yb3+ by palladium(II) octaethylporphyrin (PdOEP). We find that the intramolecular sensitization leads to a Yb3+ photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of (9.7 ± 1.0)% and and that the local ligand environment results in a relatively short lanthanide emission lifetime of 12.1 ± 0.1 µs. As for the intermolecular energy transfer mechanism in the YbQ3/PdOEP mixture, this is governed by a dynamic quenching of the phosphorescence from PdOEP. Despite the relatively weak collisional probability of energy transfer, requiring ∼ 400 collision events in solution, the PLQY of Yb3+ emission in the mixture was (4.5 ± 0.7)% for selective PdOEP excitation. These results indicate that while triplets can be effective sensitizers for near-infrared lanthanide emission, careful design of the sensitization pathway is required.
Related
- How the Energy Gaps between Partners Rules ns-Scale Sensitization and Back-Energy Transfer in Lanthanide(III) Complexes?
- Magnetic Control of NIR Lanthanide Emission in Molecular Complexes
- Prediction of Singlet-Triplet Gaps Using Self-Attention–Based Regression with Model Integration into a Molecular Editor
- Understanding the spin coherence of molecular photoexcited triplet states from first principles
- Regioisomeric engineering of carbazole-naphthalimide donor-acceptor systems enables efficient triplet generation and room temperature phosphorescence in molecular and nanoaggregated states.
BibTeX
@misc{shah2026photophysics,
title = {{Photophysics and Triplet Sensitization of the Molecular Lanthanide YbQ3}},
author = {Syed Hamad Ullah Shah and Ben P. Carwithen and Cameron M. Gould and Damon M. de Clercq and Liam L. Gotley and Irfan M. Khan and Scott A. Sulway and Timothy W. Schmidt and Michael P. Nielsen},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009357/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009357/v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Photophysics and Triplet Sensitization of the Molecular Lanthanide YbQ3
AU - Syed Hamad Ullah Shah
AU - Ben P. Carwithen
AU - Cameron M. Gould
AU - Damon M. de Clercq
AU - Liam L. Gotley
AU - Irfan M. Khan
AU - Scott A. Sulway
AU - Timothy W. Schmidt
AU - Michael P. Nielsen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009357/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009357/v1
AB - The energy transfer mechanism between organic ligands and lanthanide-based near-infrared emitters, such as ytterbium ions (Yb3+), is of great photophysical interest. In recent years, lanthanides have attracted attention for their capacity for both up-and down-conversion for a range of applications. While lanthanides generally have extremely small absorption cross-sections, their light-matter interaction can be complemented by an appropriate choice of chromophore ligand. Here, we investigate intramolecular ligand-to-Yb3+ triplet energy transfer in ytterbium tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (YbQ3) molecule as well as the intermolecular sensitization of Yb3+ by palladium(II) octaethylporphyrin (PdOEP). We find that the intramolecular sensitization leads to a Yb3+ photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of (9.7 ± 1.0)% and and that the local ligand environment results in a relatively short lanthanide emission lifetime of 12.1 ± 0.1 µs. As for the intermolecular energy transfer mechanism in the YbQ3/PdOEP mixture, this is governed by a dynamic quenching of the phosphorescence from PdOEP. Despite the relatively weak collisional probability of energy transfer, requiring ∼ 400 collision events in solution, the PLQY of Yb3+ emission in the mixture was (4.5 ± 0.7)% for selective PdOEP excitation. These results indicate that while triplets can be effective sensitizers for near-infrared lanthanide emission, careful design of the sensitization pathway is required.
ER -