Direct Conversion of Perovskite Thin Films into Nanowires with Kinetic Control for Flexible Optoelectronic Devices

With significant progress in the past decade, semiconductor nanowires have demonstrated unique features compared to their thin film counterparts, such as enhanced light absorption, mechanical integrity and reduced therma conductivity, etc. However, technologies of semiconductor thin film still serve as foundations of several major industries, such as electronics, displays, energy, etc. A direct path to convert thin film to nanowires can build a bridge between these two and therefore facilitate the large-scale applications of nanowires. Here, we demonstrate that methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) nanowires can be synthesized directly from perovskite film by a scalable conversion process. In addition, with fine kinetic control, morphologies, and diameters of these nanowires can be well-controlled. Based on these perovskite nanowires with excellent optical trapping and mechanical properties, flexible photodetectors with good sensitivity are demonstrated.