Broadband emission from zero-dimensional Cs₄PbI₆ perovskite nanocrystals

To overcome the drawbacks in three-dimensional (3D) perovskites, such as instability, surface hydration, and ion migration, recently researchers have focused on comparatively stable lower-dimensional perovskite derivatives. All-inorganic zero-dimensional (0D) perovskites (e.g., Cs₄PbX₆; X = Cl^-, Br^-, I^-) can be evolved as a high performing material due to their larger exciton binding energy and better structural stability. The clear understanding of carrier recombination process in 0D perovskites is very important for better exploitation in light-emitting devices. In this work, we comprehensively studied the light emission process in 0D Cs₄PbI₆ nanocrystals (NCs) and interestingly we observe intense white light emission at low temperatures. According to our experimental observations, we conclude that the white light emission contains an intrinsic exciton emission at 2.95 eV along with a broadband emission covering from 1.77 eV to 2.6 eV. We also confirm that the broadband emission is related to the carrier recombination of both self-trapped excitons (STE) and defect state trapped excitons. Our investigations reveal the carrier recombination processes in Cs₄PbI₆ NCs and provide experimental guidelines for the potential application of white light generation.