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Heavy-atom effect regulating room temperature phosphorescence in hybrid metal halide glasses
Linyuan Lian1, Ming Ai1, Daming Xiong1
1Key Laboratory of Materials Physics of Ministry of Education, School of Physics, Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052 China shizf@zzu.edu.cn.
Chemical Science
|November 17, 2025
Summary
Researchers developed new hybrid metal halide glasses for tunable room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP). These materials offer potential in optoelectronics and anti-counterfeiting applications by controlling emission properties through heavy-atom effects.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Photochemistry
- Solid-State Chemistry
Background:
- Room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) in hybrid metal halide glasses is crucial for optoelectronics and anti-counterfeiting.
- Achieving tunable RTP properties in these materials presents a significant challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize novel zero-dimensional (0D) butyltriphenylphosphonium-based (BuTPP+) hybrid metal halide glasses.
- To investigate the regulation of RTP lifetimes and emission characteristics through heavy-atom effects and composition tuning.
Main Methods:
- Solvent-assisted rapid evaporation technique for synthesizing (BuTPP)2MCl2X2 glasses (M = Zn, Cd; X = Cl, Br, I).
- Systematic variation of metal halide units to study the heavy-atom effect on RTP lifetimes.
- Characterization of photophysical properties, including RTP and self-trapped exciton (STE) emissions.
Main Results:
- RTP lifetimes were precisely regulated via the heavy-atom effect, decreasing from 608.6 ms for (BuTPP)2ZnCl4 to 146 ms for (BuTPP)2CdCl2Br2 with increasing atomic number.
- Self-trapped exciton (STE) emissions dominated and suppressed organic afterglow when the atomic number exceeded 170.
- (BuTPP)2ZnCl4 glass exhibited excitation-dependent multicolor phosphorescence due to aggregate cluster luminescence.
Conclusions:
- The developed hybrid glasses exhibit dual-mode emissions (RTP/STE) with tunable photophysical properties.
- Successful applications demonstrated in shape-controllable anti-counterfeiting and high-resolution X-ray scintillation imaging (10 lp mm-1).
- The study provides a facile vitrification strategy and design principles for advanced RTP materials.
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