Breaking Phonon Bottlenecks through Efficient Auger Processes in Perovskite Nanocrystals

The hot phonon bottleneck has been under intense investigation in perovskites. In the case of perovskite nanocrystals, there may be hot phonon bottlenecks as well as quantum phonon bottlenecks. While they are widely assumed to exist, evidence is growing for the breaking of potential phonon bottlenecks of both forms. Here, we perform state-resolved pump/probe spectroscopy (SRPP) and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy (t-PL) to unravel hot exciton relaxation dynamics in model systems of bulk-like 15 nm nanocrystals of CsPbBr₃ and FAPbBr₃, with FA being formamidinium. The SRPP data can be misinterpreted to reveal a phonon bottleneck even at low exciton concentrations, where there should be none. We circumvent that spectroscopic problem with a state-resolved method that reveals an order of magnitude faster cooling and breaking of the quantum phonon bottleneck that might be expected in nanocrystals. Since the prior pump/probe methods of analysis are shown to be ambiguous, we perform t-PL experiments to unambiguously confirm the existence of hot phonon bottlenecks as well. The t-PL experiments reveal there is no hot phonon bottleneck in these perovskite nanocrystals. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations reproduce experiments by inclusion of efficient Auger processes. This experimental and theoretical work reveals insight on hot exciton dynamics, how they are precisely measured, and ultimately how they may be exploited in these materials.