In this work, we evaluated the effect of solvent absorption
during
photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) measurements of near-infrared
(NIR) emission with an integrating sphere (IS) instrument, and propose
an effective correction method. Transmittance spectra of representative
solvents measured with an IS instrument showed significant absorption
bands in the first NIR region (NIR-I; 700–950 nm), and more
prominently in the second NIR (NIR-II; 1000–1700 nm) region
due to overtones and a combination of fundamental vibrations involving
C–H and O–H stretching modes. The emission spectra of
typical NIR-I and NIR-II emitting compounds exhibited dips owing to
solvent absorption, resulting in somewhat reduced PLQY values. We
utilized the transmittance spectrum of the solvent to correct the
observed emission spectrum. Distortion due to solvent absorption was
properly corrected, and additional corrections for the reabsorption/reemission
effect gave more reliable PLQY values.
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