Defect radiation has been always considered as the most important loss for an emitter based on band gap emission. Here, we propose a novel approach which goes against this conventional wisdom. Based on the resonance effect between the surface plasmon of metal nanoparticles and defect emission, it is possible to convert the useless defect radiation to the useful excitonic emission with a giant enhancement factor. Through the transfer of the energetic electrons excited by surface plasmon from metal nanoparticles to the conduction band of the emitter, the band gap emission can be greatly enhanced, while the defect emission can be suppressed to noise level.
The 77 K emission
spectra of cyclometalated ruthenium(II)-2,2′-bipyridine
(CM-Ru-bpy) chromophores are very similar to those of related Ru-bpy
complexes with am(m)ine or diimmine ancillary ligands, and density
functional theory (DFT) modeling confirms that the lowest energy triplet
metal to ligand charge transfer (3MLCT) excited states
of CM-Ru-bpy and related Ru-bpy complexes have very similar electronic
configurations. However, the phosphorescence decay efficiencies of
CM-Ru-bpy excited states are about twice those of the conventional
Ru-bpy analogues. In contrast to the similar 3MLCT excited
state electronic configurations of the two classes of complexes, the
CM-Ru-bpy chromophores have much broader visible region MLCT absorptions
resulting from several overlapping transitions, even at 87 K. The
emitting excited-state emission efficiencies depend on spin–orbit
coupling (SOC) mediated intensity stealing from singlet excited states,
and this work explores the relationship between the phosphorescence
efficiency and visible region absorption spectra of Ru-bpy 3MLCT excited states in the weak SOC limit. The intrinsic 3MLCT emission efficiency, ιem, depends on mixing
with singlet excited states whose RuIII-dπ-orbital
angular momenta differ from that of the emitting state. DFT modeling
of the 1MLCT excited-state electronic configurations that
contribute significantly to the lowest energy absorption bands have
RuIII-dπ orbitals that differ from those of their
emitting 3MLCT excited states. This leads to a very close
relationship between ιem and the lowest energy MLCT
band absorptivities in Ru-bpy chromophores. Thus, the larger number
of 1MLCT transitions that contribute to the lowest energy
absorption bands accounts for the enhanced phosphorescence efficiency
of Ru-bpy complexes with cyclometalated ancillary ligands.
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