Antimony and bismuth cooperation to enhance the broad yellow photoluminescence of zero-dimensional hybrid halide

As an emerging material, organic-inorganic metal halides (OIMHs) have been widely studied in the field of optoelectronics in recent years. In this work, a series of compounds (TMEDA)(3)(SbxBi1-x)(2)Cl-12 center dot H2O (0.1 <= x <= 0.6) (TMEDA = N,N,N '-trimethylethylenediamine) were synthesized. The incorporation of Sb3+ greatly enhanced the photoluminescence quantum yield of (TMEDA)(3)Bi2Cl12 center dot H2O from 1% to 38%. The variation in the degree of distortion of the inorganic octahedra and the relatively suitable distances between metal ions are considered to be the reasons for the intense emission. (TMEDA)(3)(SbxBi1-x)(2)Cl-12 center dot H2O (0.1 <= x <= 0.6) exhibited a yellow phosphorescence emission at 605 nm and 595 nm under excitation at 305 nm and 375 nm, respectively. With the incorporation of Sb3+, changes in the emission intensity under different excitation wavelengths showed different trends. Thus, we attribute the yellow broadband emissions to the triplet emission of Bi3+ and Sb3+. Finally, we combined (TMEDA)(3)(Sb0.5Bi0.5)(2)Cl-12 center dot H2O with commercial phosphors and a near-ultraviolet light-emitting diode chip to prepare a white-light-emitting diode device, which exhibited a high color-rendering index of 94.4. The aim of our work was to investigate the structural effects of the photoluminescence of Sb3+-doped OIMHs and to further explore ways to improve the Sb3+ emission efficiency in the field of photoluminescence of OIMHs.