Halogen Engineering Strategy-Induced Color-Tunable Room Temperature Phosphorescence in Metal-Organic Halides

Color-tunable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials possess potential applications in multicolor imaging, multichannel anticounterfeiting, and information encryption. Herein, we synthesized two zero-dimensional cadmium-organic halides, (H-aepy)₂CdX₄ (referred to as CdX-aepy; X = Cl^-, Br^-; aepy = 3-(2-aminoethyl)pyridine), both of which exhibit long-lived excitation wavelength- and time-dependent RTP. Experimental and theoretical results suggest that the multicolor RTP can be ascribed to the coemission of pristine H-aepy ligands and halogen-affected H-aepys, supporting that suitably introducing halogens can be an efficient strategy for constructing multicolor RTP materials. Additionally, we also demonstrate that the two phosphors can be applied in multichannel anticounterfeiting and information encryption. This work reports two hybrids with color-tunable RTP, as well as provides new insight into the effect of halogens on the regulation of RTP.