1. Introduction
Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) have gained significant attention due to their outstanding figures of merit, including remarkable color purity, efficient radiative recombination, tailorable emission wavelengths, and low-cost solution-processibility. As a result, they are considered a promising candidate for next-generation display and lighting [
1,
2,
3,
4]. Among various MHPs, all-inorganic CsPbI
3 nanocrystals (NCs) are crucial for these purposes owing to their outstanding chemical and thermal durability [
5]. Recent strategies, such as morphology and interfacial control, architecture engineering, and surface chemistry engineering, have been implemented to improve the practical applications of CsPbI
3 NCs, boosting the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of CsPbI
3 NCs-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) [
6]. Despite the rapid progress, the CsPbI
3 NCs LEDs endure substantial limitations due to the small-sized (0-dimension NCs), attributed to the confinement effect [
7]. The defects-enriched surface of colloidal CsPbI
3 NCs, owing to their small size, has a deleterious effect not exclusively limited to photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), but also coupled with the low-luminous efficiency of LEDs [
8]. Moreover, the large surface area of small-size CsPbI
3 NCs requires excessive native ligands to passivate, which forms an insulation layer to impede the effective carrier transport capability in assembled NCs film are numerous arduous challenges that are correlated with CsPbI
3 NCs based LEDs [
2].
Anisotropic one-dimensional (1D) nanorods can overcome the limitations of conventional CsPbI
3 NCs-based LEDs. This is because 1D nanorods combine two-directional quantum confinement effects with a significantly reduced surface trap density, leading to excellent photophysical properties and high aspect ratios [
9]. The 1D nanorods possess excellent photophysical properties and high aspect ratios from their unique surface morphology [
10,
11]. Additionally, the well-defined morphology of 1D nanorods has the ability to confine the active area of charge carriers and shorten the transmission of carriers [
3], making them more conducive to the exploration of efficient LEDs compared with their counterpart nanocrystals [
12].
While recent reports have described the synthesis of perovskite nanorods from the water-oil transformation of Cs
4PbBr
6 polyhedrons into nanorods or fragmentation of perovskite nanowires initiated by anion-exchange processes [
13,
14], these methods result in impure morphologies and defects-enriched surfaces. Therefore, it remains challenging to directly synthesize perovskite nanorods with efficient radiative recombination rates (high PLQY) and well-defined aspect ratios. Importantly, the anisotropic nature of these nanorods’ emissive layer is valuable to further increase the outcoupling efficiency by overcoming the photons losses that become trapped through waveguiding and total internal, prized for their high ratios of horizontal transition dipole moments (TDMs), contrary to isotopically oriented nanocubes (nanocrystals) [
15,
16,
17].
Here, an unconventional approach is introduced based on yttrium (III) chloride hexahydrate (YCI3.6H2O) YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 nanorods. The YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 nanorods decrease the lattice parameter of CsPbI3 NCs owing to partial substitution of Pb2+ and I− with bigger radius by smaller Cl− ions. The YCl3 passivates surface traps and regulates the net recombination rates, significantly improving PLQY. Importantly, the environmental durability of the YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs improved significantly, losing 28% PLQY after being stored for 45 days under ambient conditions. Notably, the YCl3:CsPbI3-nanorod-based LEDs demonstrated a peak EQE of 3.16%, 1.86-fold higher than the control CsPbI3 NCs-based device (1.69%). Importantly, the ratio of horizontal transition dipole moments of the anisotropic YCl3:CsPbI3 nanorods is determined to be 75%, which is higher than that of the isotopically oriented TDMs in CsPbI3 nanocrystals (67%), resulting in higher light outcoupling efficiency. Our finding suggests that anisotropic nanorods have a promising prospect in light-emitting devices.
3. Results and Discussion
The control (unsubstituted) and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs were synthesized following the two-step hot-injection method [
20]. The YCl
3-doped CsPbI
3 NRs were realized by adding 0.184 mmol of YCl
3·6H
2O into perovskite medium followed by the injection of Cs-oleate precursor
(Scheme 1a). Unlike the previous reports that aimed at metal chlorides that used either the same or adjacent chloride element in the pristine perovskite NCs [
14,
21]. This study examines how metal chloride can modulate the shape and optoelectronic properties of CsPbI
3 NCs. Besides changing the surface defect of perovskite NCs, the YCl
3-doping has an additional effect on inducing the anisotropic growth of the crystals. The intention doping of YCl
3 was carried out in the CsPbI
3 NCs reaction medium; the distinctive chloride (Cl
−) was not adjacent to the iodide (I
−) of the CsPbI
3 NCs. The presence of chloride on the surface of perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) and the varied bond energies between Cl
− ions and I
− ions are responsible for the anisotropic growth of perovskite NCs.
(Scheme 1b). The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses provide evidence to support this conjecture, as shown in
Figure 1. The TEM and high resolution (HR-TEM) morphology of the control and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs revealed by TEM (
Figure 1). The control CsPbI
3 NCs contain monodisperse and regular cubic shape (
Figure 1a). The HR-TEM images show a high crystallinity and lattice spacing of 6.2 Å of the CsPbI
3 NCs, corresponding to the (100) plane of cubic perovskite (
Figure 1b-c) [
22,
23]. The average particle size of the control CsPbI
3 NCs is determined to be ~10.05 nm (
Figure 1d). Remarkably, the 0.184 mmol YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs show the one-dimensional nanorods (NRs) (
Figure 1e-g). The HR-TEM image of YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NRs displays a lattice spacing of 4.5 Å, corresponding to the (110) plane of perovskite (
Figure 1g) [
12]. The aspect ratio of the YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs is ~2.3, and the average sizes of length and diameter are 18.5 and 8.2 nm, respectively.
Scheme 1.
(a) Schematic illustration of hot-injection method of YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs perovskite. (b) The intentional doping of YCl3 in the perovskite reaction medium. The presence of the surface chloride initiates the unit cell's surface energy imbalance, leading to the anisotropic growth of CsPbI3 NCs.
Scheme 1.
(a) Schematic illustration of hot-injection method of YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs perovskite. (b) The intentional doping of YCl3 in the perovskite reaction medium. The presence of the surface chloride initiates the unit cell's surface energy imbalance, leading to the anisotropic growth of CsPbI3 NCs.
Figure 1.
(a) TEM image, and (b-c) high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM) images of CsPbI3 NCs. (d) The corresponding size distribution histograms. (e) TEM image, and (f-g) HR-TEM images of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs. (h) The corresponding size distribution histograms.
Figure 1.
(a) TEM image, and (b-c) high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM) images of CsPbI3 NCs. (d) The corresponding size distribution histograms. (e) TEM image, and (f-g) HR-TEM images of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs. (h) The corresponding size distribution histograms.
The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were conducted to ascertain the crystal structure of CsPbI
3 NCs and YCl
3:CsPbI
3 NRs, as shown in
Figure 2. Both the CsPbI
3 NCs and YCl
3:CsPbI
3 NRs adhere to the reference pattern of the bulk cubic CsPbI
3 perovskite (PDF#98-018-1288), and the diffraction peaks appear at 14.02
o, 20.03
o, 28.407
o, 31.88
o, 35.45
o, 41.05
o, and 51.63
o are corresponding to cubic planes of (100), (110), (200), (210), (211), (220) and (300), respectively. The diffraction peaks of (100) and (200) planes shift toward higher angles attributed to the decrease of lattice parameters of YCl
3:CsPbI
3 NRs stemmed from the partial substitution Pb
2+ and I
− with bigger radius by the smaller Y
3+ and Cl
− ions, respectively [
12,
24]. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the unsubstituted and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs are illustrated in
Figure 2b-c. Contrary to perovskite NCs, the SEM image of (YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3) nanorods are homogeneously distributed on a glass substrate, which indicates that the nanorod film layer has a good foundation for electroluminescent.
Figure 2.
(a) TEM image, and (b-c) high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM) images of CsPbI3 NCs. (d) The corresponding size distribution histograms. (e) TEM image, and (f-g) HR-TEM images of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs. (h) The corresponding size distribution histograms.
Figure 2.
(a) TEM image, and (b-c) high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM) images of CsPbI3 NCs. (d) The corresponding size distribution histograms. (e) TEM image, and (f-g) HR-TEM images of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs. (h) The corresponding size distribution histograms.
X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) analysis was performed to gain insight into the interaction of YCl
3 with CsPbI
3 nanocrystals (NCs), and the results are presented in
Figure 3(a). The characteristic XPS signals for Cs 3d, Pb 4f, I 3d, Y 3d, and Cl 2p were observed in YCl
3-doped CsPbI
3 NCs and N 1s, O 1s, and C 1s signals coupled with native ligand bonding. The high-resolution XPS spectra of Cs 3d, Pb 4f, I 3d, Y 3d, and Cl 2p are displayed in
Figure 3(b-f), respectively. The partial substitution of I
− ions by Cl
− ions is evidenced by an increase in the binding energies of Pb
2+ 4f
5/2 and Pb
2+ 4f
7/2 from 143.56 and 138.37 eV to 143.64 and 138.7 eV, respectively. The binding energy of I 3d and Cs 3d display little variation compared to YCl
3:CsPbI
3 nanocrystals (NCs). More importantly, the Y
3+ and Cl
− binding energy signals can be observed in the YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 nanorods (NRs). These findings support the partial substitution of I
− ions by Cl
− ions [
25].
Figure 3.
(a) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of CsPbI3 NCs and YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs. High resolution-XPS spectra of (b) Cs 3d, (c) Pb 4f, and (d) I 3d of pristine CsPbI3 NCs and YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs. (e-f) Y 3d and Cl 2p spectra of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs thin film.
Figure 3.
(a) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of CsPbI3 NCs and YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs. High resolution-XPS spectra of (b) Cs 3d, (c) Pb 4f, and (d) I 3d of pristine CsPbI3 NCs and YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs. (e-f) Y 3d and Cl 2p spectra of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs thin film.
To gain a better understanding of the effects of partial substitution of Pb
2+ cation and I
− with larger radius by the smaller Y
3+ and Cl
− ions, the optical properties of both as-synthesized CsPbI
3 nanocrystals (NCs) and YCl
3:CsPbI
3 nanorods (NRs) were analyzed (
Figure 4). The corresponding normalized PL and absorption spectra of YCl
3:CsPbI
3 NRs showed that peak position exhibited a blue-shift owing to partial substitution of Y
3+ cation [
26]. The enlarged bandgap caused the blue-shifts of the absorption and PL spectra for YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs due to the partial substitution of Pb
2+ cation and I
− with bigger radius by the smaller Y
3+ and Cl
− ions [
27]. The photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) increased from 51% to 70% for the 0.184 mmol YCl
3 passivated CsPbI
3 NCs, suggesting enhanced radiative recombination followed by yttrium chloride doping (
Figure 4c). The ambient stability of the YCl
3:CsPbI
3 solution was noticeably improved (
Figure 4d), the YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NRs maintained (50% out of 70%) a PLQY, loss of 28% PLQY after being stored for 45 days under ambient condition, prized for the effectiveness of yttrium chloride passivation. However, over the same period of time, the PL quantum yield of pristine CsPbI
3 NCs nearly approached zero. The inset of
Figure 4d shows the images recorded at different times for the unsubstituted and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs solution.
Figure 4.
(a-c) Photoluminescence (PL), absorption spectra, and PL-quantum yield (PLQY) of the unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NCs. The inset Figure 3(c) is the image of the CsPbI3 NCs and YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs solution under the UV lamp. (d) PLQY values as a function of stored days for unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NCs solution. The inset is real images of both samples after 45 days.
Figure 4.
(a-c) Photoluminescence (PL), absorption spectra, and PL-quantum yield (PLQY) of the unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NCs. The inset Figure 3(c) is the image of the CsPbI3 NCs and YCl3:CsPbI3 NRs solution under the UV lamp. (d) PLQY values as a function of stored days for unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NCs solution. The inset is real images of both samples after 45 days.
The control and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs were employed as emitters to evaluate the potential applications in perovskite LEDs. The LEDs were fabricated based on the configuration of indium tin oxide (ITO)/ poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT: PSS)/poly(4-butylphenyl-diphenyl-amine) (P-TPD)/ unsubstituted CsPbI
3 or YCl
3:CsPbI
3/ 1,3,5-tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)benzene (TPBi)/ lithium fluoride (LiF)/ aluminum (Al). The schematic illustration of PeLED, and the corresponding energy levels diagram of the functional layer are illustrated in
Figure 5a-b. The functional layers' energy level values are taken from previous literature [
12]. The thickness of ITO (150 nm), PEDOT: PSS, P-TPD (60 nm), YCl
3:CsPbI
3 (55 nm), TPBi (60 nm), and LiF/Al (130 nm) were analyzed by the cross-sectional TEM image, as shown in
Figure 5c. The current density-voltage-luminance (
J-V-L) curves of the unsubstituted and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs LEDs with a 4 mm
2 emitting area are displayed in
Figure 5d. The turn-on voltage (where the luminance achieved 1 cd/m
2) is reduced from ~3.9 V to ~3.6 V for the YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs LED, revealing that more balanced carrier injected owing to their matched-energy level with carrier transfer layer and enhanced conductivity induced by the YCl
3-substitution that facilitated the efficient charges injection [
12,
23]. The CsPbI
3 NCs and YCl
3:CsPbI
3 NRs-based LEDs showed a maximum luminance of 263.1 cd/m
2 and 421.8 cd/m
2, respectively. The electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the unsubstituted and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs LEDs were observed at 691 nm and 688 nm (
Figure 5e). The YCl
3:CsPbI
3-based LEDs revealed high color purity with Commission internationale de l’éclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.71, 0.26), which corresponds to the BT. 2020 color gamut, as shown in
Figure 5f.
The EQE
vs. luminance curves are displayed in
Figure 5g. The peak EQE of YCl
3:CsPbI
3 is 3.16%, 1.86-fold higher than the pristine CsPbI
3 NCs (1.69%) based LED. This enhancement is attributed to enhanced PLQY and more balanced carrier transfer in the YCl
3:CsPbI
3 EML layer.
Figure 5.
(a) Schematic flat-band energy diagram of perovskite LEDs. (b-c) Schematic device illustration and the corresponding cross-sectional TEM image of the perovskite LEDs. (d) Current density-voltage and luminance-voltage curves, (e) EL spectra of the unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED device. The inset shows the image of a working YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED device. (f) The corresponding CIE coordinates for the EL spectrum (0.71, 0.26) of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED. (g) EQE-Luminance curves of the unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED device.
Figure 5.
(a) Schematic flat-band energy diagram of perovskite LEDs. (b-c) Schematic device illustration and the corresponding cross-sectional TEM image of the perovskite LEDs. (d) Current density-voltage and luminance-voltage curves, (e) EL spectra of the unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED device. The inset shows the image of a working YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED device. (f) The corresponding CIE coordinates for the EL spectrum (0.71, 0.26) of YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED. (g) EQE-Luminance curves of the unsubstituted and YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 LED device.
Figure 6.
Angle-dependent PL measurements of the perovskite film on a quartz substrate/nanocrystal or nanorods. The experimental data (black squares) are fitted by the classical electromagnetic dipole model, giving a horizontal TDM ratio of (a) CsPbI3 NCs 67%, and (b) YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs 75%.
Figure 6.
Angle-dependent PL measurements of the perovskite film on a quartz substrate/nanocrystal or nanorods. The experimental data (black squares) are fitted by the classical electromagnetic dipole model, giving a horizontal TDM ratio of (a) CsPbI3 NCs 67%, and (b) YCl3-substituted CsPbI3 NRs 75%.
To further investigate the enhanced EQE in the YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NRs, we conducted angle-dependent photoluminescence (ADPL) measurements to probe the orientation of transition dipole moments (TDMs) in the assembled thin film of CsPbI
3 nanocrystals/nanorods. The outcoupling efficiency in PeLEDs has the potential for improvement by controlling the orientation of TDMs [
30]. The optical TDMs of nanoplatelets and nanorods are highly anisotropic, and outcoupling efficiency in planer PeLEDs is profoundly associated with the orientation of emissive TDMs [
15,
17]. The orientation of optical TDMs of the unsubstituted and YCl
3-substituted CsPbI
3 NCs was measured by the ratio of horizontal TDMs (Θ). The experimental data are fitted to the pattern simulated employing the classical dipole radiation model [
31,
32,
33,
34]. We confirmed that the Θ values of CsPbI
3 NCs and YCl
3:CsPbI
3 NRs film are determined to be 67% and 75% (
Figure 6a-b). The Θ value in anisotropic nanorods is considerably higher than that of isotropic nanocrystals. Thus, the optical TDMs that are horizontally oriented in anisotropic nanorods are preferred for light outcoupling, resulting in the EQE of the LEDs.