Synthesis and Judd–Ofelt analysis of a sol–gel material doped with a Ln2(Benzoate)6(Phen)2 (Ln = Er/Yb) complex

In this work, we have prepared a sol–gel derived hybrid material directly doped with Er1.4Yb0.6(Benzoate)6(Phen)2 (Phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) complex, which was reported with intramolecular Yb–Er energy-transfer process in our previous work. The infrared (IR) spectra of the pure complex and hybrid gel material were investigated. The NIR photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of hybrid gel material shows strong characteristic emission of Er3+ with broad full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 70 nm. Judd–Ofelt theory was used in order to analyze the optical properties of Er3+ ions in the hybrid gel material.