Bright Blue and Green Luminescence of Sb(III) in Double Perovskite Cs2MInCl6 (M = Na, K) Matrices

Abstract

The vast structural and compositional space of metal halides has recently become a major research focus for designing inexpensive and versatile light sources; in particular, for applications in displays, solid-state lighting, lasing, etc. Compounds with isolated ns2-metal halide centers often exhibit bright broadband emission that stems from self-trapped excitons (STEs). The Sb(III) halides are attractive STE emitters due to their low toxicity and oxidative stability; however, coupling these features with an appropriately robust, fully inorganic material containing Sb3+ in an octahedral halide environment has proven to be a challenge. Here, we investigate Sb3+ as a dopant in a solution-grown metal halide double perovskite (DP) matrix, namely Cs2MInCl6:xSb (M = Na, K, x = 0–100%). Cs2KInCl6 is found to crystallize in the tetragonal DP phase, unlike Cs2NaInCl6 that adopts the traditional cubic DP structure. This structural difference results in distinct emission colors, as Cs2NaInCl6:xSb and Cs2KInCl6:xSb compounds exhibit broadband blue and green emissions, respectively, with photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) of up to 93%. Spectroscopic and computational investigations confirm that this efficient emission originates from Sb(III)-hosted STEs. These fully inorganic DP compounds demonstrate that Sb(III) can be incorporated as a bright emissive center for stable lighting applications.