High-resolution remote thermometry and thermography using luminescent low-dimensional tin-halide perovskites

• Published in: Nature materials 2019-08, Vol.18 (8), p.846-852
• Main Authors: Yakunin, Sergii, Benin, Bogdan M., Shynkarenko, Yevhen, Nazarenko, Olga, Bodnarchuk, Maryna I., Dirin, Dmitry N., Hofer, Christoph, Cattaneo, Stefano, Kovalenko, Maksym V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/166; 639/624; 639/925; 639/925/357; 639/925/930; Biomaterials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Excitons; Fluorescence; Halides; Lifetime; Materials Science; Measurement techniques; Metal halides; Microscopy; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optoelectronics; Perovskites; Photoluminescence; Radiation; Reproducibility; Sensors; Temperature dependence; Thermal imaging; Thermography; Thermometry; Tin
• ISSN: 1476-1122; 1476-4660
• DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0416-2

Although metal-halide perovskites have recently revolutionized research in optoelectronics through a unique combination of performance and synthetic simplicity, their low-dimensional counterparts can further expand the field with hitherto unknown and practically useful optical functionalities. In this context, we present the strong temperature dependence of the photoluminescence lifetime of low-dimensional, perovskite-like tin-halides and apply this property to thermal imaging. The photoluminescence lifetimes are governed by the heat-assisted de-trapping of self-trapped excitons, and their values can be varied over several orders of magnitude by adjusting the temperature (up to 20 ns °C −1 ). Typically, this sensitive range spans up to 100 °C, and it is both compound-specific and shown to be compositionally and structurally tunable from −100 to 110 °C going from [C(NH 2 ) 3 ] 2 SnBr 4 to Cs 4 SnBr 6 and (C 4 N 2 H 14 I) 4 SnI 6 . Finally, through the implementation of cost-effective hardware for fluorescence lifetime imaging, based on time-of-flight technology, these thermoluminophores have been used to record thermographic videos with high spatial and thermal resolution. Low-dimensional tin-halide perovskites exhibit strong temperature dependence of luminescence decay time that translates into high sensitivity over a wide range of temperatures and as such can be used in high-resolution remote thermography.