Halide Perovskites Nanocrystals: Synthesis, Transformations and their Application in Devices

Abstract

Halide perovskite semiconductors can merge the highly efficient operational principles of conventional inorganic semiconductors with the low temperature solution processability of emerging organic and hybrid materials, offering a promising route towards cheaply generating electricity as well as light. Perovskites not only show exceptional primary optoelectronic properties such as a direct bandgap, small exciton binding energy, low carrier recombination rates, ambipolar transport, and tunability of the bandgap covering a wavelength range from the near infrared to the ultraviolet, but they are also very attractive for their ease of processability for mass production (e.g. printing from solution) and for the large availability of their chemical components. Following a surge of interest in this class of materials, research on halide perovskite nanocrystals as well has gathered momentum in the last three years. In such a narrow time span, several properties/features of halide perovskite nanocrystals were investigated, among them electroluminescence, lasing, anion-exchange, as well as control of size and shape such that nanocrystals in the quantum confinement regime were recently reported. The present talk will highlight the research activities of our group on halide perovskite nanocrystals and films (covering mainly the last two years of research) with emphasis on synthesis,1,2 as well as structural, chemical,3 and surface transformations,4 and their applications in various types of devices.5 Our key contributions in this area include: the discovery of fast anion exchange as a means of tuning the emission from perovskite nanocrystals and its application in down-converting LEDs; the fabrication of nanostructures in the quantum confined regime; the development of colloidal inks for nanocrystal-based solar cells; new methods for a sustainable synthesis of nanocrystals; the study of 0D perovskites, their conversion to 3D perovskites and back.6

Acknowledgements

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union 7th Framework Programme under Grants Agreements No. 614897 (ERC Consolidator Grant “TRANS-NANO”) and Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement COMPASS No. 691185.

References

1 Akkerman, Q. A.; Motti, S. G.; Srimath Kandada, A. R.; Mosconi, E.; D’Innocenzo, V.; Bertoni, G.; Marras, S.; Kamino, B. A.; Miranda, L.; De Angelis, F.; Petrozza, A.; Prato, M.; Manna, L., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 1010.
2 Shamsi, J.; Abdelhady, A. L.; Accornero, S.; Arciniegas, M.; Goldoni, L.; Kandada, A. R. S.; Petrozza, A.; Manna, L., ACS Energy Lett. 2016, 1, 1042.
3 Akkerman, Q. A.; D’Innocenzo, V.; Accornero, S.; Scarpellini, A.; Petrozza, A.; Prato, M.; Manna, L., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 10276.
4 Palazon, F.; Akkerman, Q. A.; Prato, M.; Manna, L., ACS Nano 2016, 10, 1224.
5 Akkerman, Q. A.; Gandini, M.; Di Stasio, F.; Rastogi, P.; Palazon, F.; Bertoni, G.; Ball, J. M.; Prato, M.; Petrozza, A.; Manna, L., Nat. Energy 2016, 2, 16194.
6 Akkerman, Q. A.; Park, S.; Radicchi, E.; Nunzi, F.; Mosconi, E.; De Angelis, F.; Brescia, R.; Rastogi, P.; Prato, M.; Manna, L. Nano Lett. 2017,17, 1924–1930.