Hybrid
organic–inorganic main-group metal halide compounds
are the subject of intense research owing to their unique optoelectronic
characteristics. In this work, we report the synthesis, structure,
and electronic and optical properties of a family of hybrid tin (II)
bromide compounds comprising guanidinium [G, C(NH
2
)
3
+
] and mixed cesium–guanidinium cations:
G
2
SnBr
4
, CsGSnBr
4
, and Cs
2
GSn
2
Br
7
. G
2
SnBr
4
has
a one-dimensional structure that consists of chains of corner-sharing
[SnBr
5
]
2–
square pyramids and G cations
situated in between the chains. Cs
+
exhibits a pronounced
structure-directing effect where a mixture of Cs
+
and G
cations forms mono- and bilayered two-dimensional perovskites: CsGSnBr
4
and Cs
2
GSn
2
Br
7
. Furthermore,
the flat shapes of the guanidinium cations induce anisotropic out-of-plane
tilts of the [SnBr
6
]
4–
octahedra in the
CsGSnBr
4
and Cs
2
GSn
2
Br
7
compounds. In G
2
SnBr
4
, the Sn lone pair is
highly stereoactive and favors non-octahedral, that is, square pyramidal
coordination of Sn(II). G
2
SnBr
4
exhibits bright
broad-band emission from self-trapped excitonic states, owing to its
soft lattice and electronic localization. This emission in G
2
SnBr
4
is characterized by a photoluminescence (PL) quantum
yield of 2% at room temperature (RT; 75 ± 5% at 77 K) and a fast
PL lifetime of 18 ns at room temperature.