Probing Linewidths and Biexciton Quantum Yields of Single Cesium Lead Halide Nanocrystals in Solution

• Published in: Nano letters 2017-11, Vol.17 (11), p.6838-6846
• Main Authors: Utzat, Hendrik, Shulenberger, Katherine E, Achorn, Odin B, Nasilowski, Michel, Sinclair, Timothy S, Bawendi, Moungi G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biexciton quantum yield; Cesium lead halide perovskites; charge transport; INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; optics; perovskite nanocrystals; photon correlation Fourier spectroscopy; photosynthesis (natural and artificial); semiconductor nanocrystals; single nanocrystal spectroscopy; solar (photovoltaic); solid state lighting; spectral lineshapes; synthesis (novel materials); synthesis (scalable processing); synthesis (self-assembly)
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03120

Cesium lead halide (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) have recently become a promising material for optoelectronic applications due to their high emission quantum yields and facile band gap tunability via both halide composition and size. The spectroscopy of single PNCs enhances our understanding of the effect of confinement on excitations in PNCs in the absence of obfuscating ensemble averaging and can also inform synthetic efforts. However, single PNC studies have been hampered by poor PNC photostability under confocal excitation, precluding interrogation of all but the most stable PNCs, and leading to a lack of understanding of PNCs in the regime of high confinement. Here, we report the first comprehensive spectroscopic investigation of single PNC properties using solution-phase photon-correlation methods, including both highly confined and blue-emitting PNCs, previously inaccessible to single NC techniques. With minimally perturbative solution-phase photon-correlation Fourier spectroscopy (s-PCFS), we establish that the ensemble emission linewidth of PNCs of all sizes and compositions is predominantly determined by the intrinsic single PNC linewidth (homogeneous broadening). The single PNC linewidth, in turn, dramatically increases with increasing confinement, consistent with what has been found for II–VI semiconductor nanocrystals. With solution-phase photon antibunching measurements, we survey the biexciton-to-exciton quantum yield ratio (BX/X QY) in the absence of user-selection bias or photodegradation. Remarkably, the BX/X QY ratio depends both on the PNC size and halide composition, with values between ∼2% for highly confined bromide PNCs and ∼50% for intermediately confined iodide PNCs. Our results suggest a wide range of underlying Auger rates, likely due to transitory charge carrier separation in PNCs with relaxed confinement.