Syntheses, Structures, and Photoluminescence of Copper-Based Halides

Copper-based halides have been found to be a new family of lead-free materials with high stability and superior optoelectrical properties. In this work, we report the photoluminescence of the known (C8H14N2)CuBr3 and the discovery of three new compounds, (C8H14N2)CuCl3, (C8H14N2)CuCl3·H2O, and (C8H14N2)CuI3, which all exhibit efficient light emissions. All these compounds have monoclinic structures with the same space group (P21/c) and zero-dimensional (0D) structures, which can be viewed as the assembly of promising aromatic molecules and different copper halide tetrahedrons. Upon the irradiation of deep ultraviolet light, (C8H14N2)CuCl3, (C8H14N2)CuBr3,, and (C8H14N2)CuI3 show green emission peaking at ∼520 nm with a photoluminescent quantum yield (PLQY) of 3.38, 35.19, and 17.81%, while (C8H14N2)CuCl3·H2O displays yellow emission centered at ∼532 nm with a PLQY of 2.88%. A white light-emitting diode (WLED) was successfully fabricated by employing (C8H14N2)CuBr3 as a green emitter, demonstrating the potential of copper halides for applications in the green lighting field.