Water-Stable Zero-Dimensional (C4H9)4NCuCl2 Single Crystal with Highly Efficient Broadband Green Emission

Here, we report (C4H9)(4)NCuCl2 single crystals with a luminous intensity that remains largely the same after soaking in water for 24 h. (CH9)(4)NCuCl2 has a new type zero-dimensional framework, in which the isolated [CuCl2](-) anions are wrapped by organic (C4H9)(4)N+ cations. As expected, (C4H9)(4)NCuCl2 shows a broad emission band at 508 nm with a photoluminescence quantum yield of approximately 82% at room temperature, stemming from self-trapped exciton (STE) emission. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurement reveals that there is an energy barrier.E (24.0 meV) between the intrinsic state and STE state, which leads to the increase in emission intensity with an increase in temperature (98-278 K), while the emission intensity begins to decrease when the temperature is higher than 278 K due to the effects of both thermal quenching and carrier scattering. Our findings provide a new idea for the design of lead-free anti-water stability metal halide materials.

Automated summary

In this study, (C4H9)(4)NCuCl2 single crystals with stable luminous intensity in water were reported, showcasing the characteristics of STE emission and temperature-dependent emission intensity. This provides a new idea for the design of lead-free anti-water stability metal halide materials.