Dual Vacancy Passivation in CsPbCl3 Perovskite Nanocrystals: Implications on Optoelectronic Applications

Despite numerous advantages over the traditional light absorbing materials, colloidal cesium lead halide (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br, or I) perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) suffer from enormous defect density, leading to shorter lifetime of charge carriers and material instability. A large number of positively and negatively charged ionic defects are inevitably formed from crystallization via high temperature. Herein, we have studied a simple post-synthesis defect passivation of blue emitting CsPbCl3 NCs using monovalent metal ion LiCl as a dual-passivating agent. The observed effect (on optical properties) went up by leaps and bounds. Photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield increases from 2.8 to 47.6%, while PL life time increases from 0.56 to 20.79 ns. Various other chloride salts (CaCl2, NH2Cl, KCl, and NaCl) and Li salts (LiBr and LiI) with different cation and anion combinations, respectively, did not give this effect. All these together with the enhanced overall stability of NCs suggest the synergistic effect of dual passivation and deep defect passivation that leads to significant suppression of non-radiative recombination. An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study also reveals that this simple strategy promotes simultaneous passivation of both defects (vacancies) formed from negatively (chlorine) and positively charged ions (lead) of CsPbCl3. Theoretical study and experimental analysis in this work, together delivers a perceptive understanding of cationic and anionic vacancy healing by LiCl in CsPbCl3 NCs, thus enhancing its utilization as efficient blue light emitters.