Efficient and stable emission of warm white light from lead-free halide double perovskites

One-fifth of global electricity consumption is based on lighting; efficient and stable white-light emission with single materials is ideal for applications. Photon emission that covers the entire visible spectrum is, however, difficult to attain with a single material. Metal halide perovskites, for instance, have outstanding emission properties but contain lead, and therefore yield unsatisfactory stability. A new report published by Jiajun Luo and co-workers details a lead-free double perovskite that exhibited stable and efficient white light emission. In its mechanism of action, the material produced self-trapped excitons (STEs) due to Jahn-Teller distortion of the AgCl6 octahedron in the excited state of the complex, observed when investigating exciton-phonon coupling in the crystal lattice. The results are now published in Nature.