Organic Lead Halide Nanocrystals Providing an Ultra-Wide Color Gamut with Almost-Unity Photoluminescence Quantum Yield

The most attractive aspect of perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) for optoelectronic applications is their widely tunable emission wavelength, but it has been quite challenging to tune it without sacrificing the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). In this work, we report a facile ligand-optimized ion-exchange (LOIE) method to convert room-temperature spray-synthesized, perovskite parent NCs that emit a saturated green color to NCs capable of emitting colors across the entire visible spectrum. These NCs exhibited exceptionally stable and high PLQYs, particularly for the pure blue (96%) and red (93%) primary colors that are indispensable for display applications. Surprisingly, the blue- and red-emissive NCs obtained using the LOIE method preserved the cubic shape and cubic phase structure that they inherited from their parent NCs, while exhibiting high crystallinity and high color-purity. Together with the parent green-emissive NCs, the obtained blue- and red-emissive NCs provided a very wide color gamut, corresponding to a Digital Cinema Initiatives-P3 of 140% or an International Telecommunication Union Recommendation BT.2020 of 102%. With the superior optical merits of these LOIE-manipulated NCs, a corresponding color conversion luminescence device provided a high external quantum efficiency (10.5%) and extremely high brightness (970 000 cd/m(2)). This study provides a valid route toward highly stable, extremely emissive, and panchromatic perovskite NCs with potential use in a variety of future optoelectronic applications.

Automated summary

This study introduces a facile method to tune the emission wavelength of perovskite nanocrystals across the visible spectrum while maintaining high photoluminescence quantum yield, particularly for crucial colors in display applications. The method preserves the cubic shape and phase structure of the nanocrystals inherited from their parent crystals, resulting in high crystallinity and color purity for blue- and red-emissive nanocrystals. The manipulated nanocrystals provide a wide color gamut and high optical performance, making them promising for future optoelectronic applications.