General Synthesis of Lead-Free Metal Halide Perovskite Colloidal Nanocrystals in 1-Dodecanol

Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) exhibit great application potential in optoelectronic devices because of their tunable band gaps and facile colloidal synthesis, but they suffer from serious lead toxicity and instability. It is highly desirable to substitute lead with other elements to acquire nontoxic and environmentally friendly lead-free perovskite NCs for optoelectronic devices. Here, we report a general method for the colloidal synthesis of a series of bismuth/antimony-based halide perovskite NCs with various constituents and optical band gaps from 1.97 to 3.15 eV. In our proposed synthetic system, 1-dodecanol is adopted as the solvent instead of the conventionally used 1-octadecene to realize size controllability of bismuth/antimony-based metal halide perovskite NCs. It is found that 1-dodecanol can act as a surfactant to tightly adsorb on the surface of bismuth/antimony-based halide perovskite NCs, enabling their small sizes (∼2 nm) and high dispersibility. Simultaneously, the band gaps of bismuth/antimony-based halide (A₃B₂X₉, where A = CH₃NH₃, Cs, or Rb, B = Bi or Sb, and X = Cl, Br, or I) perovskite NCs can be systematically tuned by the atomic substitution of A, B, or X lattice sites. Moreover, to show the optoelectronic application potential of these lead-free halide perovskite NCs, a solar cell based on colloidal Cs₃Bi₂I₉ perovskite NCs is demonstrated. The developed colloidal synthesis of bismuth/antimony-based halide NCs in 1-dodecanol will offer an alternative route to fabricating lead-free halide perovskite optoelectronic devices.