A Two-Dimensional Hybrid Perovskite With Heat Switching Birefringence

Birefringent crystals that can switch light polarization have important applications in optoelectronics. In the last decades, birefringence is mostly optimized by chemical strategies. Recently, switching birefringence by physical means has attracted much attention. Here, this work reports the observation of heat switching birefringence in a 2D layered hybrid halide perovskite (C₂N₃H₄)₂PbCl₄ ((C₂N₃H₄)⁺=1,2,4-triazolium). This heat switching birefringence leads to a significant change in the interference color for the crystal plate under the illumination of orthogonal polarized light. Structure analyses reveal a heat dependent structure transition in (C₂N₃H₄)₂PbCl₄, whose birefringence is switched by the change in the distortion degree of PbCl₆ octahedron. This discovery may be beneficial to the further development of stimuli-responsive polarization optical devices.