Structure and photoluminescence property of Eu, Tb, Zn-containing macromolecular complex for white light emission

In this work, a new aryl carboxylic acid functionalized polymethyl methacrylate (PVM) was synthesized by p-vinybenzoic acid (p-VBA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA). By using PVM as macromolecular ligand, the macromlecular complex PVM-Eu, PVM-Tb, and PVM-Zn were prepared. And then, Eu, Tb, Zn-containing macromolecular complex was composited by PVM-Eu, PVM-Tb, and PVM-Zn for white light emission. The structure was characterized using 1H NMR, FT-IR and UV–vis absorption techniques. The luminescence property was measured by fluorescence spectrometry. When excited at 365 nm, the macromolecular complex exhibits emission peaks at 456 nm (blue emission); 488, 543 nm (green emission); and 588, 613 nm (red emission). The white light of the macromolecular complex can be obtained by tuning the ratios of the three complexes. The CIE coordinates of (0.330, 0.338) were calculated which is extremely close to pure white light. And, the CCT was 4555 K for the fabricated WLED using a 365 nm UV chip with the macromolecular complex phosphor, while the CRI was 87. The fluorescence lifetime was calculated to be 0.807 ms. All the results reveal that the macromolecular complex can be applied as a phosphor for the fabrication of NUV-based white LEDs.