Reusable temperature-sensitive luminescent material based on vitrified film of europium(III) β-diketonate complex

We have proposed a novel temperature-sensitive luminescent material which is a 20 μm thick vitrified film (sandwiched between two quartz plates) fabricated from an amorphous powder of a mesogenic europium(III) β-diketonate complex through a melt-processing technique. The film photoexcited by a 337 nm pulsed nitrogen laser displays a typical Eu3+ ion luminescence bands with the strongest peak at 612 nm and with the decay time of 537 μs at 298 K. It is obtained that both the mean luminescence intensity and the luminescence decay time at 612 nm decrease significantly with temperature increasing from 298 to 348 K; the average values of the relative and absolute temperature sensitivities of the luminescence decay time in the range of 298–348 K are −1.2%·K−1 and −6.5 μs·K−1, respectively. The thermal quenching mechanism of the luminescent properties was analyzed and discussed. The experiments showed that, the luminescent properties of the film is insensitive to oxygen, the film is photostable under UV light, there is full reversibility of the temperature-dependent luminescence intensity and the decay time, and the high luminescence brightness of the film can be observed with violet light excitation. These factors indicated that the film is promising material for reusable luminescent thermometers, suitable for long-term monitoring in the range of 298–348 K.