Highly Efficient Cool-White Photoluminescence of (Gua)<sub>3</sub>Cu<sub>2</sub>I<sub>5</sub> Single Crystals: Formation and Optical Properties
Hui Peng, Xinxin Wang, Ye Tian, Bingsuo Zou, Fan Yang, Tao Huang, Chengyu Peng, Shangfei Yao, Zongmian Yu, Qingrong Yao, Guanghui Rao, Jianping Wang
Abstract
Zero-dimensional lead-free organic–inorganic hybrid metal halides have drawn attention as a result of their local metal ion confinement structure and photoelectric properties. Herein, a lead-free compound of (Gua)3Cu2I5 (Gua = guanidine) with a different metal ion confinement has been discovered, which possesses a unique [Cu2I5]3– face-sharing tetrahedral dimer structure. First-principles calculation demonstrates the inherent nature of a direct band gap for (Gua)3Cu2I5, and its band gap of ∼2.98 eV was determined by experiments. Worthy of note is that (Gua)3Cu2I5 exhibits a highly efficient cool-white emission peaking at 481 nm, a full-width at half-maximum of 125 nm, a large Stokes shift, and a photoluminescence quantum efficiency of 96%, originating from self-trapped exciton emission. More importantly, (Gua)3Cu2I5 single crystals have a reversible thermoinduced luminescence characteristic due to a structural transition scaled by the electron–phonon coupling coefficients, which can be converted back and forth between cool-white and yellow color emission by heating or cooling treatment within a short time. In brief, as-synthesized (Gua)3Cu2I5 shows great potential for application both in single-component white solid-state lighting and sensitive temperature scaling.