Issue 39, 2021

Phosphatidylcholine-mediated regulation of growth kinetics for colloidal synthesis of cesium tin halide nanocrystals

Abstract

Cesium tin halide (CsSnX3, where X is halogen) perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) are one of the most representative alternatives to their lead-based cousins. However, a fundamental understanding of how to regulate the growth kinetics of colloidal CsSnX3 NCs is still lacking and, specifically, the role of surfactants in affecting their growth kinetics remains incompletely understood. Here we report a general approach for colloidal synthesis of CsSnX3 perovskite NCs through a judicious combination of capping agents. We demonstrate that introducing a small amount of zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine in the reaction is of vital importance for regulating the growth kinetics of CsSnX3 NCs, which otherwise merely leads to the formation of large-sized powders. Based on a range of experimental characterization, we propose that the formation of intermediate complexes between zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine and the precursors and the steric hindrance effect of branched fatty acid side-chains of phosphatidylcholine can regulate the growth kinetics of CsSnX3, which enables us to obtain CsSnX3 NCs with emission quantum yields among the highest values ever reported. Our finding of using zwitterionic capping agents to regulate the growth kinetics may inspire more research on the synthesis of high-quality tin-based perovskite NCs that could speed up their practical applications in optoelectronic devices.

Graphical abstract: Phosphatidylcholine-mediated regulation of growth kinetics for colloidal synthesis of cesium tin halide nanocrystals

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Jul 2021
Accepted
26 Sep 2021
First published
27 Sep 2021

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 16726-16733

Phosphatidylcholine-mediated regulation of growth kinetics for colloidal synthesis of cesium tin halide nanocrystals

L. Wang, J. Chen, B. Zhang, Q. Liu, Y. Zhou, J. Shu, Z. Wang, N. Shirahata, B. Song, O. F. Mohammed, O. M. Bakr and H. Sun, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 16726 DOI: 10.1039/D1NR04618G

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