Lead-Free, Luminescent Perovskite Nanocrystals Obtained through Ambient Condition Synthesis

Heterovalently substituting toxic lead is an increasingly popular design strategy to obtain environmentally sustainable variants of the exciting material class of halide perovskites. Perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) obtained through solution-based methods exhibit exceedingly high optical quality. Unfortunately, most of these synthesis routes still require reaction under inert gas and at very high temperatures. Herein a novel synthesis routine for lead-free double perovskite (LFDP) NCs is presented. An approach based upon the hot injection and ligand-assisted reprecipitation (LARP) methods to achieve a low-temperature and ambient atmosphere-based synthesis for manganese-doped Cs₂ NaBiCl₆ NCs is presented. Mn incorporation is critical for the otherwise non-emissive material, with a 9:1 Bi:Mn precursor ratio maximizing the bright orange photoluminescence (PL) and quantum yield (QY). Higher synthesis temperatures slightly increase the material's performance, yet NCs synthesized at room temperature are still emissive, highlighting the versatility of the synthetic approach. While the material's indirect bandgap limits its appeal for optoelectronics, this feature could benefit photocatalysis due to longer carrier lifetimes. Moreover, the developed synthesis is facile and can rapidly be adapted to other more viable material compositions and up-scaled to realize applications directly.