The effect of covalent bonding in hybrid materials based on silica and adducts of Nd(III) tris-β-diketonates and 1,10-phenanthroline

This work is devoted to study of the spectral properties of hybrid materials based on silica and adducts of Nd(III) tris-β-diketonates and 1,10-phenanthroline as promising UV-light converters for optical amplifiers and waveguides, lasers, solar cells etc. It was shown that covalent grafting of the complexes enhances the emission signal due to the limitation of non-radiative energy losses and formation of more rigid matrix. As it turned out, emission intensity of hybrid materials is in the range of 21-66% of the initial crystalline complexes despite the actual decrease of the concentration of Nd(III) ions by 4-6 times. •Modification of Nd(III) β-diketonates by triethoxysilyl fragments was carried out.•Covalently bonded systems reveal enhanced emission compared to non-covalently bonded.•Fluorinated Nd(III) complexes are preferred for near IR-luminescent hybrid materials.•Covalent bonding leads to the broadening of matrix and Nd(III) ion emission bands.