Pyridine-induced Dimensionality Change in Hybrid Perovskite Nanocrystals

Abstract
Engineering the surface energy through careful manipulation of the surface chemistry is a convenient approach to control quantum confinement and structure dimensionality during nanocrystal growth. Here, we demonstrate that the introduction of pyridine during the synthesis of methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr) perovskite nanocrystals can transform three-dimensional (3D) cubes into two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that pyridine preferentially binds to Pb atoms terminating the surface, driving the selective 2D growth of the nanostructures. These 2D nanostructures exhibit strong quantum confinement effects, high photoluminescence quantum yields in the visible spectral range, and efficient charge transfer to molecular acceptors. These qualities indicate the suitability of the synthesized 2D nanostructures for a wide range of optoelectronic applications.

Citation
Ahmed GH, Yin J, Bose R, Sinatra L, Alarousu E, et al. (2017) Pyridine-Induced Dimensionality Change in Hybrid Perovskite Nanocrystals. Chemistry of Materials 29: 4393–4400. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b00872.

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). We acknowledge Manas R. Parida and Smritakshi P. Sarmah for their help with the photoluminescence lifetime measurements.

Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Journal
Chemistry of Materials

DOI
10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b00872

Additional Links
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b00872

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