Surface regulation by bifunctional BODIPY to fabricate stable CsPbBr₃ for multi-layered optical anti-counterfeiting

Cesium lead halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs) have attracted immense attention for luminescent materials due to their narrow emission bands and color-tunable emission. However, indispensable surface ligands originating from ligand-assisted synthesis strategies severely deteriorate the stability and luminescence properties of QDs since these ligands have a highly dynamic binding. Herein, we used a green fluorescence BODIPY molecule containing thiol (named SH-BDP) to regulate the CsPbBr₃ QDs surface by ligand regulation. Density functional theory calculations proved that the SH-BDP molecule could bind to the exposed Pb of CsPbBr₃ QDs stronger than traditional ligands to form stable SH-BDP-QDs. Moreover, the SH-BDP fixed on the CsPbBr₃ QDs surface can improve water and light resistance. It also served as a knob to tune their luminescence properties and the reversible thermal-stimuli response. Finally, the multi-response property of SH-BDP-QDs was realized under polar solvent or heat along with UV light. In addition, we used the SH-BDP-QDs to create various anti-counterfeiting labels; several luminous modes were achieved under different external stimuli, which improved the quality of the optical anti-counterfeiting labels and ensured information security. This work indicates the immense potential of surface ligand manipulation in improving the stability and multi-stimuli-responsive optical encoding of perovskite quantum dots.