Quantum size effect and surface defect passivation in size-controlled CsPbBr3 quantum dots

Abstract Luminescent CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) with adjustable size and bandgap were grown by controlling the synthesis temperature in this paper. As the synthesis temperature increases, the QD size becomes larger and then smaller. The corresponding absorption and steady-state photoluminescence spectrum indicate that the QD band gap becomes smaller and then larger, which is a typical quantum confinement effect. Time-resolved photoluminescence spectrum and femtosecond transient absorption spectrum (fs-TAS) show that the non-radiative recombination probability of photocarriers in small QDs is small it has few defects, indicating that the ligand molecules adsorbed on the surface of QDs effectively passivate the surface defects of CsPbBr3. Finally, the hot-phonon bottleneck effect of CsPbBr3 QDs is revealed by the kinetic curves fitting of fs-TAS and the cooling kinetic process of hot carriers is also discussed in detail. This work provides new insights on size-dependent photophysical properties of CsPbBr3 QDs.