Octave-spanning 1 emission across the visible spectrum from single crystalline 1,3,5,7-tetrakis-($p$-methoxyphenyl)adamantane

TL;DR

This paper reports on a new single-crystalline diamondoid compound that emits across the entire visible spectrum with high efficiency and stability, making it a promising sustainable phosphor for LED technology.

Contribution

It introduces a functionalized diamondoid with octave-spanning visible emission, high quantum efficiency, and thermal stability, advancing sustainable light-emitting materials.

Findings

Octave-spanning emission across the visible spectrum.

Quantum efficiency exceeds 7% at high temperatures.

Stable beyond 200°C, suitable for LED applications.

Abstract

Sustainable efficient light emitter based solely on elements-of-hope are needed to replace current compounds based on less-abundant materials. Functionalized diamondoids are a potential solution for this challenge as they offer efficient, octave-spanning emission across the visible spectrum in their single-crystalline form. Its large quantum efficiency increases towards higher-than-ambient temperatures to beyond 7 %. The stability beyond 200 {\deg}C renders such functionalized diamondoids as sustainable phosphors for LED applications. Detailed structural and theoretical investigations suggest a crucial role of exciton states accompanied by structural modifications (self-trapped excitons) in the emission process.