Abstract Scintillators, one of the essential components in medical imaging and security checking devices, rely heavily on rare‐earth‐containing inorganic materials. Here, a new type of organic‐inorganic hybrid scintillators containing earth abundant elements that can be prepared via low‐temperature processes is reported. With room temperature co‐crystallization of an aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) organic halide, 4‐(4‐(diphenylamino) phenyl)‐1‐(propyl)‐pyrindin‐1ium bromide (TPA‐PBr), and a metal halide, zinc bromide (ZnBr2), a zero‐dimensional (0D) organic metal halide hybrid (TPA‐P)2ZnBr4with a yellowish‐green emission peaked at 550 nm has been developed. In this hybrid material, dramatically enhanced X‐ray scintillation of TPA‐P+is achieved via the sensitization by ZnBr42−. The absolute light yield (14,700 ± 800 Photons/MeV) of (TPA‐P)2ZnBr4is found to be higher than that of anthracene (≈13,500 Photons/MeV), a well‐known organic scintillator, while its X‐ray absorption is comparable to those of inorganic scintillators. With TPA‐P+as an emitting center, short photoluminescence and radioluminescence decay lifetimes of 3.56 and 9.96 ns have been achieved. Taking the advantages of high X‐ray absorption of metal halides and efficient radioluminescence with short decay lifetimes of organic cations, the material design paves a new pathway to address the issues of low X‐ray absorption of organic scintillators and long decay lifetimes of inorganic scintillators simultaneously.
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Unraveling luminescence mechanisms in zero-dimensional halide perovskites
Zero-dimensional (0D) halides perovskites, in which anionic metal-halide octahedra (MX 6 ) 4− are separated by organic or inorganic countercations, have recently shown promise as excellent luminescent materials. However, the origin of the photoluminescence (PL) and, in particular, the different photophysical properties in hybrid organic–inorganic and all inorganic halides are still poorly understood. In this work, first-principles calculations were performed to study the excitons and intrinsic defects in 0D hybrid organic–inorganic halides (C 4 N 2 H 14 X) 4 SnX 6 (X = Br, I), which exhibit a high photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) at room temperature (RT), and also in the 0D inorganic halide Cs 4 PbBr 6 , which suffers from strong thermal quenching when T > 100 K. We show that the excitons in all three 0D halides are strongly bound and cannot be detrapped or dissociated at RT, which leads to immobile excitons in (C 4 N 2 H 14 X) 4 SnX 6 . However, the excitons in Cs 4 PbBr 6 can still migrate by tunneling, enabled by the resonant transfer of excitation energy (Dexter energy transfer). The exciton migration in Cs 4 PbBr 6 leads to a higher probability of trapping and nonradiative recombination at the intrinsic defects. We show that a large Stokes shift and the negligible electronic coupling between luminescent centers are important for suppressing exciton migration; thereby, enhancing the photoluminescence quantum efficiency. Our results also suggest that the frequently observed bright green emission in Cs 4 PbBr 6 is not due to the exciton or defect-induced emission in Cs 4 PbBr 6 but rather the result of exciton emission from CsPbBr 3 inclusions trapped in Cs 4 PbBr 6 .
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- Award ID(s):
- 1709116
- PAR ID:
- 10099111
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Materials Chemistry C
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 24
- ISSN:
- 2050-7526
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 6398 to 6405
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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