Solvent dependent tunable energy transfer of d10 metal dicyanide nanoclusters with Eu3+ and Tb3+ rare earth ions

The luminescence energy and intensity of d10 copper(I), silver(I) and gold(I) dicyanide nanoclusters exhibit high tunability as energy transfer donors in different organic solvents. For Tb3+ acceptor ions, the energy transfer efficiency, which is proportional to the spectral overlap between the donor emission and the acceptor absorption, depends on the solvent tunability of the donor emission energy. For Eu3+ acceptor ions, energy transfer can be ‘tuned off’ or ‘tuned on’ as the solvent dependent donor emission energy becomes in resonance with a charge transfer state or with the 5L6 Eu3+ ion state, respectively.