A semi-conductive organic–inorganic hybrid emits pure white light with an ultrahigh color rendering index

Abstract

White-light emission has evoked great attention as one of the most promising technologies in the applications of solid-state lighting devices, light emitting diodes, and flat-panel displays. However, up to now, pure white-light emitting materials have rarely been reported. Here, we present a single-component white-light emitting semiconductor, [C₅H₉–NH₃]₄CdBr₆, which exhibits CIE chromaticity coordinates of (0.33, 0.33). Notably, this value is the same as that of the standard pure white-light emission. Remarkably, it shows an ultrahigh color rendering index of 92.5, which exceeds that of mixed-phosphor light sources and is comparable to the recently reported highest one among single-component materials. Mechanistic studies indicate that the white-light emission originates from the synergetic effect of deep defects coupled with the organic component. Such an organic–inorganic hybrid with outstanding color characteristics will pave a new approach in the development of white-light emitting materials with practical applications.