Literature Seminar:

Light emitting devices such as LED displays and white light emitting headlights rely on light emitting materials to function. Solid state emitters are also being investigated for their potential for development of qubits in quantum information science. While hybrid lead halide perovskites are highly tunable and show unique intrinsic white light emission, the lead content in these materials leads to poor air stability and toxicity. Different emission mechanisms can be used to tune the structures of solid-state materials to develop non-toxic and earth abundant light emitting materials. In this talk, a survey of different mechanisms for emission in the solid state and how materials may be tuned to manipulate them will be given. In the primary literature, blue emission in the all inorganic material K₂CuCl_3, stems from a self-trapped exciton (STE) localized on the [CuX₃]^2- chains. The emission profiles of K₂CuCl₃ and its congener K₂CuBr₃ will be discussed, along with the tunability of these materials as well as the tunability of STEs.