Layered Perovskite Doping with Eu3+ and β-diketonate Eu3+ Complex

Metal halide perovskites are attracting great interest for the fabrication of light-emitting devices encompassing light-emitting diodes, lasers, and scintillators. As the field develops, perovskite doping emerges as a promising way to enrich the material functionalities and enhance the luminescence yield and tunability. While Mn⁺² addition has been well explored, doping with lanthanides has received less attention, even though their intense and line-like luminescence is interesting for a wide range of applications. In this work, we study the doping of NMA₂PbBr₄ layered perovskites with Eu³⁺ and Eu³⁺ tetrakis β-diketonate complex. By exploiting the antenna effect of the naphthalene-based functional cation (NMA = 1-naphtylmethylammonium), direct sensitization of Eu³⁺ is obtained; nevertheless, it is not very efficient due to the non-optimal energy level alignment with the resonance acceptor level of the lanthanide. Protection of Eu³⁺ in the form of tetrakis β-diketonate complex grants a more ideal coordination geometry and energetic landscape for the energy transfer to europium in the perovskite matrix, allowing for a nearly 30-fold improvement in luminescence yield. This work sets the basis for new synthetic strategies for the design of functional perovskite/lanthanide host–guest systems with improved luminescence properties.