Investigation on luminescence photoswitching stability in diarylethene-perovskite quantum dot hybrids

Perovskite quantum dots (pQDs) have gathered a lot of attention because of their outstanding optoelectronic properties. Photoswitchable pQDs have the potential for application in single particle optical memories and bio-imaging. Hybrids of photochromic diarylethenes (DAE) and pQDs show a luminescence photoswitching property, however, the cycle stability in such systems is low because of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from pQDs to DAE. In this study, various hybrids of DAEs and pQDs with different spacer lengths between the pQD donors and DAE acceptors were synthesized and their stability towards multiple cycles of luminescence photoswitching was evaluated. It was found that the electron transfer pathway can be blocked and very stable switchable hybrids can be produced when the distance between the donors and acceptors was long enough. Furthermore, the effect of softness of the basic ligands and the synthesis method of the pQDs on the cycle stability of the hybrids were investigated. The findings of this study suggest that the photoswitching stability can be improved in hybrid systems by proper molecular design of the photochromic molecule.