Metal Inorganic–Organic Complex Glass and Fiber for Photonic Applications

The vitrification of hybrid materials (e.g., metal–organic frameworks and coordination polymers) is considered as the fourth generation of glass. To extend the hybrid glass family with photonic functionalities, we report a crystalline metal inorganic–organic complex (MIOC) (i.e., ZnCl2(HbIm)2, HbIm = benzimidazole) with a one-dimensional hydrogen bonded chain that can be melted to a stable liquid at elevated temperatures and subsequently quenched to form a large-sized bulk glass under ambient atmosphere with excellent thermal and chemical stability. Benefiting from the moderate glass-forming ability of the MIOC, we succeeded in the fabrication of the first MIOC glass fibers with diameters of 7–200 μm. The doping of the MIOC fibers by organic dyes results in anisotropic photoluminescence. Furthermore, the as-prepared MIOC bulk glass can be employed as the stable and inert host for inorganic phosphors, which leads to the development of a novel phosphor-in-MIOC glass composite and enables the fabrication of high-power white light-emitting diodes. Our findings make the ZnCl2(HbIm)2-based MIOC glass a promising material for photonic applications.