Near-Infrared LEDs Based on Quantum Cutting-Activated Electroluminescence of Ytterbium Ions

Cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) exhibit promising prospects for application in optoelectronic devices. However, electroactivated near-infrared (NIR) PNC light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with emission peaks over 800 nm have not been achieved. Herein, we demonstrate the electroactivated NIR PNC LEDs based on Yb3+-doped CsPb(Cl1–xBrx)3 PNCs with extraordinary high NIR photoluminescence quantum yields over 170%. The fabricated NIR LEDs possess an irradiance of 584.7 μW cm–2, an EQE of 1.2%, and a turn-on voltage of 3.1 V. The ultrafast quantum cutting process from the PNC host to Yb3+ has been revealed as the main mechanism of electroluminescence (EL)-activated Yb3+ for the first time via exploring how the trend between the EL intensity of PNC and Yb3+ varies with different voltages along with the tendency of temperature- and doping-concentration-dependent PL and EL spectra. This work will extend the application of PNCs to optical communication, night-vision devices, and biomedical imaging.