Researchers Report White-Light Luminescent Ferroelectric with High Color Rendering Index

Luminescent ferroelectrics have drawn deep attention in field emission display (FED), flat-panel display, and vacuum fluorescent displays, which have a major focus on the multicomponent systems of rare-earth doping ferroelectric ceramics.

However, ferroelectrics existing together with strong single-component white-light emission are not yet explored.

In a research reported in Advanced Functional Materials, a team of scientists headed by Prof LUO Junhua and Prof SUN Zhihua from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM) of Chinese Academy of Sciences described, for the first time, a white-light luminescent ferroelectric (C₄H₁₂N)₄PbCl₄ with high color rendering index, incorporating special two-dimensional (2D) layered perovskite architecture.

Scientists discovered that the orientation of organic cations and the important structural distortion of PbCl₆ synergistically stimulate the production of large spontaneous polarizations.

Furthermore, they discovered that the ferroelectric material displays broadband white light emission under UV excitation with a maximum color rendering index of 86.

Mechanism explorations denoted that the white-light emission is obtained from the strong electron-phonon coupling linked with the structural distortion of PbCl₆ octahedra.

As a first white-light luminescent ferroelectric, (C₄H₁₂N)₄PbCl₄ exhibited the exceptional coexistence of ferroelectricity and broadband white-light emission in a single component 2D perovskite hybrid.

This research opens the door for designing new hybrid ferroelectrics for multifunctional application in the photoelectronic field.