Pervoskite-like hybrid lead bromides with bipyridine as structure-directing agent

Two perovskite-like hybrid lead bromides were synthesized via solvothermal reaction with bipyridine (Bpy) as structure-directing agent, and structurally characterized as [(PbBr4)(H2Bpy)] (1) and [(Pb3Br10)(H2Bpy)2(H2O)2] (2), respectively. Compound 1 contains 1D chain built from the edge-sharing [Pb2Br8]4- dimers, while compound 2 has 2D layered structure constructed by vertex-sharing [Pb3Br10]4- trimers. The band gap of compound 1 and 2 were determined to be 2.25 and 2.78 eV, respectively, as revealed by UV–vis diffuse-reflectance measurements. Interestingly, the stable compound 1 in air exhibits efficient photocatalytic dye degradation under the irradiation of visible light.