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Controlled synthesis of highly stable lead-free bismuth halide perovskite nanocrystals: Structures and photophysics

高稳定性铋基钙钛矿纳米晶的可控合成: 结构和光物 理性质

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Abstract

Recently, cesium bismuth halide perovskites have emerged as potential substitutes to their counterparts, cesium lead halide perovskites, owing to their low toxicity. However, the photophysics of cesium-bismuth halides nanocrystals (NCs) have not yet been fully rationalized because their structures remain highly debated. The ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption along with other photophysical properties such as the nature and lifetime of the excited states vary considerably across the previous reports. Here, we successfully synthesize pure Cs3BiBr6 and Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs via a modified hot-injection method, where the structure can be easily controlled by tuning the reaction temperature. The UV-vis absorption spectrum of the pure Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs features two characteristic peaks originating from the absorption of the first exciton and second exciton, respectively, which ultimately clarifies the debate in the previous reports. Using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, we systematically investigate the excited state dynamics of the Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs and reveal that the photoexcited carriers undergo a self-trapping process within 3 ps after excitation. More intriguingly, the Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs prepared by this method show much better photostability than those prepared by the ligand-assisted reprecipitation process. Photodetectors based on these Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs show a sensitive light response, demonstrating the definite potential for breakthrough optoelectronic applications.

摘要

铋基钙钛矿因毒性低成为铅基钙钛矿的潜在替代品. 目前, 对铋 基钙钛矿纳米晶的化学组成、晶体结构以及光物理过程的研究还缺乏 系统性. 特别地, 紫外-可见吸收光谱和激发态载流子动力学, 在已发表 的论文中存在相当大的争议. 在本文中, 我们通过热注入法成功地合成 了纯相的Cs3BiBr6和Cs3Bi2Br9纳米晶, 并通过调节热注入的温度来精确 控制二者的化学组成和结构. 在此基础上, 系统研究了不同形貌和不同 尺寸的Cs3Bi2Br9纳米晶的紫外-可见吸收光谱, 澄清了在这方面存在的 争议. 采用飞秒瞬态吸收光谱系统研究了Cs3Bi2Br9纳米晶的激发态载 流子动力学, 结果表明载流子在被激发后的3 ps内会发生一个自捕获过 程. 与配体辅助再沉积法相比, 用热注入法制备的Cs3Bi2Br9纳米晶具有 更好的光稳定性. 基于Cs3Bi2Br9纳米晶的光电探测器具有灵敏的光响 应, 显示出其在光电探测方面的应用潜力.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Sergiu Levcenco for his careful proofreading of the manuscript and valuable comments. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFA0309300), the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (20JCZDJC00560 and 20JCJQJC00210), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 11974191 and 12127803), the 111 Project (B07013), and the “Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities”, Nankai University (91923139, 63213040, C029211101, C02922101, and ZB22000104). We acknowledge DESY (Hamburg, Germany), a member of the Helmholtz Association HGF, for the provision of experimental facilities. Parts of this research were carried out at Petra III beamline P64. Lin W and Zou X acknowledge the Chinese Scholarship Council for their PhD scholarship.

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Contributions

Author contributions Fu X and Geng HF conceived the research project. Geng HF, Huang Z, Geng HX, Liu S, Naumova MA, Salvia R, Chen S, and Wei J did the experimental measurements. Zhang L did the computation. Geng HF and Huang Z proceeded with data analysis and wrote the manuscript with input from Fu X and Canton SE. All the authors contributed to the discussion and revision of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kaibo Zheng  (郑凯波), Sophie E. Canton or Xuewen Fu  (付学文).

Additional information

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Experimental details and supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Huifang Geng is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Physics, Nankai University. She obtained her PhD degree from Beihang University in 2017. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Extreme Light Infrastructure Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI-ALPS), Hungary from 2017 to 2020. Her research interest includes the synthesis of metal halide perovskite nanocrystals, and their charge carrier dynamics, lattice structure dynamics, and in-situ stability.

Zhuanzhuan Huang is pursuing her PhD degree in condensed matter physics at the School of Physics, Nankai University. Her research interest focuses on halide perovskite quantum dots and the in-situ photostability of halide perovskite by 4D ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM).

Kaibo Zheng obtained his PhD degree in 2010 from the Department of Materials Science, Fudan University. Then, he joined the Chemical Physics Division at Lund University, Sweden, as a postdoctoral fellow. He is currently a senior researcher in chemical physics at Lund University and dual affiliated as a senior researcher at the Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark. His research interest includes the structure and photophysics of semiconductors and perovskite quantum dots as light harvesters.

Sophie E. Canton obtained her PhD degree in 2004 from the Physics Department at Western Michigan University. Then, she joined the Chemical Physics Division at Lund University, Sweden, as a postdoctoral fellow. She is currently a visiting professor at the Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark. Her research interest includes the study of photoconversion processes in molecular systems and nanomaterials for green energy production.

Xuewen Fu is a professor of physics at Nankai University. He obtained his PhD degree from Peking University in 2014. He was a postdoc in Prof. Zewail’s group at Caltech from 2014–2017, followed by a research associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory from 2017–2019. His research area is 4D UEM with an emphasis on physical/chemical properties and ultrafast dynamics of low-dimensional materials by in-situ electron microscopy, 4D UEM, and ultrafast optical spectroscopy.

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Geng, H., Huang, Z., Geng, H. et al. Controlled synthesis of highly stable lead-free bismuth halide perovskite nanocrystals: Structures and photophysics. Sci. China Mater. 66, 2079–2089 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2299-6

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