A novel holmium–mercury complex: Structure, green photoluminescence, energy transfer mechanism and semiconducting properties

Abstract

The complex (Ho(IA)3(H3O)(H2O)) n(0.5 nHg2I6) (HIA = isonicotinic acid) has been synthesized via a hydrothermal reaction and has a one-dimensional (1D) chain-like structure. It has an emission band in the green region of 542 nm, which could originate from the 5 S2 → 5 I8 transition of the Ho3+ ion. The compound possesses Commission Internationale de I’Éclairage chromaticity coordinates of (0.2065, 0.4969) and has a wide optical band gap of 2.32 eV, as found by solid-state UV-Vis diffuse reflectance measurements.