Realization of white-light-emitting diodes from a high-brightness zirconium-based metal-organic gel driven by the AIE effect

Developing luminescent materials with suitable correlated color temperature (CCT) and sufficient color-rendering index (CRI) is a challenging problem in the field of commercialized warm white LED lighting. Herein, a novel metal-organic gel (MOG) material named YTU-G-1(SE) was synthesized, consisting of zirconium metal coordinated with 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl) ethylene. YTU-G-1(SE) exhibits strong fluorescent properties with an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect, emitting yellow-green fluorescence at 515 nm. The internal and external quantum efficiencies (IQE/EQE) of YTU-G-1(SE) are close to unity, with values of 95.74 ± 0.5% and 88.67 ± 0.5%, respectively. Finally, we combined YTU-G-1(SE) with a commercial blue chip and a commercial red phosphor (Sr,Ca)AlSiN 3 :Eu 2+ to fabricate a warm white light LED with a color temperature of 3736 K, a color-rendering index R a of 88.2, and a lumen efficiency of 79.42 lm W −1 . This work provides a new approach to regulating the emission of AIE and offers a novel idea for developing high-performance warm-white pc-WLEDs. White-light-emitting diodes are realized from a high-brightness zirconium-based metal-organic gel driven by the AIE effect.