Lanthanide
(Ln) based luminescent materials are experiencing an increasing interest
in their applications in several fields. In this study, we report
a series of new lanthanide-oligomeric brush films, supported on quartz
substrates and prepared using a layer-by-layer method (LbL). Oligomeric
brush films are composed of small oligomers from our previously reported
coordination polymers [x-EuL] and [x-TbL] (with x = 1, 3, and 5 generations of Ln complexes),
which are grown perpendicularly from a carboxylate self-assembled
monolayer. Oligomers composed of our previously described helical
lanthanide complex LnL (Ln: Eu and Tb) as a luminescent moiety and
benzene-1,4-dicarboxylate acid (bdc) used as a linker. Mixed films
having the fifth-generation Ln complexes composed of equimolar mixture
of Eu and Tb ions were prepared. Oligomeric brush films are highly
transparent and exhibited a colored emission under UV irradiation.
Pure Ln (Eu or Tb) films showed a strong luminescence from the Ln
ions. Their luminescent properties depended on the number of lanthanide
layers in the films composed of the first to third generations of
lanthanide complexes. Then, the increase of the complex layers induced
no difference in the luminescent properties. An energy transfer from
Tb to Eu ions in the mixed films indicated a short distance between
lanthanide ions of a fifth layer. The structural analysis together
with the observed luminescent properties and some previous studies
allowed to clarify the disposition of the oligomers in the films.