Pressure engineering toward harvesting the bright deep-blue-light emission in Y-based metal-organic frameworks

The emergence of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) provides a new platform of low-cost and color-saturated blue light-emitting diodes ideal for display and solid-state lighting applications. However, numerous established MOFs still exhibit weak deep-blue-light emission (<450 nm) owing to low energy/charge transfer efficiency. Here a pressure-treated strategy to greatly enhance photoluminescence performance of deep-blue light-emitting Y(BTC)(H${}_2$O)${}_6$ (H${}_3$BTC: benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid) is reported. Pressure-treated Y(BTC)(H${}_2$O)${}_6$ exhibits a bright emission at 409 nm with a photoluminescence quantum yield from the initial 2.8% increasing to 75.0%. The hydrogen bonding cooperativity effect increases hydrogen bond binding energy after pressure treatment and thus the planarization structure is locked. The increased electronic transition diversity and oscillator strength originating from the planarization structure are highly responsible for boosting metal-to-ligand charge transfer. The findings in this study provide significant insights into the underlying mechanism of the structure-property relationship in Y(BTC)(H${}_2$O)${}_6$ and offer a promising strategy to harvest deep-blue-emitting MOFs materials. (© 2023 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)