Mechanistic Investigation of Inducing Triboluminescence in Lanthanide(III) β‑Diketonate Complexes

In this work, we synthesized a series
of lanthanide­(III) β-diketonate complexes to investigate the
induction of triboluminescence. Triboluminescence (TL) spectra, solid-state
emission spectra, and luminescence lifetimes of the complexes were
obtained to prove consistent emitting species for steady-state and
triboluminescence measurements. Detailed analyses of the crystal lattice
packing were conducted in an attempt to correlate crystal symmetry,
gas discharge, and structural arrangements with “triboexcitation”,
and it is found that either noncentrosymmetric or centrosymmetic compounds
can be TL-active. Furthermore, an intensely TL compound, Eu­(dbm)4TMP, was achieved, and its light emission can be seen under
daylight upon mechanical stress.