Broadband White-Light Emission in One-Dimensional Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Silver Halide

In the past few decades, organic-inorganic hybrid metal halides acting as single-component white light emission diodes (LEDs) have attracted extensive attentions, but most of the studies concentrate on the low-dimensional lead perovskites. Here, by using the nontoxic silver as optically active metal center, a series of hybrid silver halides based on one-dimensional structures were constructed and realized broadband white light emission. Compounds [H₂DABCO][Ag₂X₄(DABCO)] (X = Br (1), I (2)) feature one-dimensional [Ag₂X₄(DABCO)]^2- structures charged balanced by [H₂DABCO]²⁺ cations. Compound 1 exhibits an efficient broadband white-light emission with photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) of about 2.1% and excellent photochemical stability, while compound 2 gives a broadband yellow-white emission centered at 556 nm. [HDABCO]₃Ag₅Cl₈ (3) gives a strong broadband yellow emission (585 nm) with high PLQE of 6.7%, which can be easily fabricated as a white light emitting device. Based on the temperature-dependent, particle-size-dependent, and time-resolved PL measurements as well as other detailed studies, the broadband white-light emissions are ascribed to the synergetic effects of the organic and inorganic components. Our work provides a unique structural assembly method to explore lead-free single-component white-light illuminants from molecular level.