Increasing photoluminescence quantum yield by nanophotonic design of quantum-confined halide perovskite nanowire arrays

High photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) is required to reach optimal performance in solar cells, lasers and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Typically, PLQY can be increased by improving the material quality to reduce the non-radiative recombination rate. It is in principle equally effective to improve the optical design by nanostructuring a material to increase light out-coupling efficiency and introduce quantum confinement, both of which can increase the radiative recombination rate. However, increased surface recombination typically minimizes nanostructure gains in PLQY. Here a template guided vapor phase growth of CH3NH3PbI3 nanowire (NW) arrays with unprecedented control of NW diameter from the bulk (250 nm) to the quantum-confined regime (5.7 nm) is demonstrated, while simultaneously providing a low surface recombination velocity of 18 cm s-1. This enables a 56-fold increase in the internal PLQY, from 0.81 % to 45.1 %, and a 2.3-fold increase in light out-coupling efficiency to increase the external PLQY by a factor of 130, from 0.33 % up to 42.6 %, exclusively using nanophotonic design.