Pressure-induced robust emission in a zero-dimensional hybrid metal halide (C9NH20)6Pb3Br12

Zero-dimensional (0D) hybrid metal halides are under intensive investigation owing to their unique physical properties, such as the broadband emission from highly localized excitons that is promising for white-emitting lighting. However, fundamental understanding of emission variations and structure–property relationships is still limited. Here, by using pressure processing, we obtain robust exciton emission in 0D (C9NH20)6Pb3Br12 at room temperature that can survive to 80 GPa, the recorded highest value among all the hybrid metal halides. In situ experimental characterization and first-principles calculations reveal that the pressure-induced emission is mainly caused by the largely suppressed phonon-assisted nonradiative pathway. Lattice compression leads to phonon hardening, which considerably weakens the exciton–phonon interaction and thus enhances the emission. The robust emission is attributed to the unique structure of separated spring-like [Pb3Br12]6− trimers, which leads to the outstanding stability of the optically active inorganic units. Our findings not only reveal abnormally robust emission in a 0D metal halide, but also provide new insight into the design and optimization of local structures of trimers and oligomers in low-dimensional hybrid materials.