Dimensional tunability and photoluminescence triggered by solvent encapsulation strategies in hybrid materials†

Abstract

Hybrid organic–inorganic halides have emerged as promising candidates for optoelectronic applications, such as smart sensors, photodetectors and optical memory, due to their structural tunability, environmental stability, and high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). Despite these merits, integrating switchable dielectric responses with strong luminescence in low-dimensional hybrid antimony materials remains exceptionally rare. Therefore, adjusting the dimensionality and enhancing the photoluminescence properties of hybrid antimony materials remains an important challenge. Herein, two different dimensional hybrid antimony bromide materials, namely (IBA)₂SbBr₅ and (IBA)₆SbBr₆·3Br (IBA = isobutylamine), were synthesized using a solvent encapsulation strategy. By taking advantage of the subtle dynamics arising from the solution composition during crystal growth, we realized two distinct structures with a switchable dielectric response. (IBA)₆SbBr₆·3Br features an independent octahedral structure, and its low-dimensional structure contributes to a high quantum yield of 10.22%. In contrast, (IBA)₂SbBr₅, which has a 1D structure, exhibits a higher phase transition temperature, along with a ferroelastic phase transition. Our targeted synthesis provides effective tools to illuminate the structural factors contributing to photoluminescence and enables the precise formation of hybrid organic–inorganic halide switching materials.