Spacer cation engineering in Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites for efficient red light-emitting diodes with recommendation 2020 color coordinates

Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites (RPPs) have been demonstrated as a very promising approach for tuning the emission color of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). However, achieving high-performance red PeLEDs with recommendation 2020 color coordinates is still challenging due to the lack of reasonable control over the properties of RPP films. Here, we demonstrate that the judicious selection of spacer cations in RPPs affords a lever for engineering their film properties, including phase distribution, energy funneling process, trap density, and carrier mobility. Four structurally related spacer cations, benzylammonium (BZA), phenylethylammonium (PEA), 3-phenyl-1-propylammonium (PPA), and phenoxyethylammonium (POEA), are studied. Owing to narrow phase distribution, efficient energy funneling, and low trap density, the POEA-based RPP films enable efficient red PeLEDs with a peak external quantum efficiency of 10.3%, a maximum brightness of 1052 cd m⁻², and excellent spectral stability. Significantly, the electroluminescence spectrum represents CIE 1931 color coordinates of (0.71, 0.29), which meets the recommendation 2020 standard (0.708, 0.292). The findings provide useful guidelines for the rational design of new organic spacer cations for RPPs with high performance.