Lead-Free Solid State Mechanochemical Synthesis of Cs<sub>2</sub>NaBi<sub>1–<i>x</i></sub>Fe<sub><i>x</i></sub>Cl<sub>6</sub> Double Perovskite: Reduces Band Gap and Enhances Optical Properties
Rohini Udavant, Sachin Thawarkar, Sachin R. Rondiya, Ankita Shelke, Rahul Aher, T. G. Ajithkumar, Russell W. Cross, Nelson Y. Dzade, Sandesh Jadkar
Abstract
Efficient and stable lead-free halide double perovskites (DPs) have attracted great attention for the future generation of electronic devices. Herein, we have developed a doping approach to incorporate Fe 3+ ions into the Cs 2 NaBiCl 6 crystal unit and reveal a crystallographic and optoelectronic study of the Cs 2 NaBi 1– x Fe x Cl 6 double perovskite. We report a simple solid-state mechanochemical method that has a solvent-free, one-step, green chemistry approach for the synthesis of Cs 2 NaBi 1– x Fe x Cl 6 phosphor. The analysis of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data determines the contraction of the lattice due to the incorporation of Fe 3+ cations, and this effect is well supported by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ss-NMR). The band gap is reduced with increasing Fe content owing to the strong overlap of the Fe-3d orbitals with Cl-3p orbitals and shift of the valence band maxima (VBM) toward higher energies, as confirmed by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and density functional theory (DFT) analyses. Photoluminescence (PL) studies of Cs 2 NaBi 1– x Fe x Cl 6 phosphors exhibit a large Stokes shift, broadband emission, and increased PL intensity more than ten times for 15% of Fe content phosphor with enhancement in the average decay lifetimes (up to 38 ns) compared to pristine Cs 2 NaBiCl 6 DP. These results indicate that the transition of dark self-trapping of excitons (STEs) into bright STEs enhances yellow emission. XRD, UV, and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) confirmed that the Cs 2 NaB 1– x Fe x Cl 6 DPs have good structural and thermal stabilities. Our findings indicate that the doping of Fe 3+ cations into the Cs 2 NaBiCl 6 lattice is a constructive strategy to enhance significantly the optoelectronic properties of these phosphors.