Room Temperature Synthesis and Photophysics of the Smallest Doped Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals

Halide perovskite nanocrystals are excellent materials for light-emitting devices and hold promise for quantum information technologies as well. Isovalent transition metal doping has been shown to further enhance luminescence yields, yet the underlying mechanism had been previously unclear.

Using transient optical spectroscopy, I will first show that such luminescence efficiency gains result from reduced nonradiative losses but also, surprisingly, from enhanced radiative rates upon doping [1]. I will explain these observations in the context of local lattice periodicity breaking and subsequent localization effects, and generalize these mechanisms for Mn, Zn, and Ni doping [2].

Then, I will introduce a new ambient room temperature synthesis route, giving easy access to controlled doping of Mn, Ni, or Zn into CsPbX3 nanocrystals (with X = Cl, Br, I) across various sizes, including for the first time the doping of small, truly confined nanocrystals, which had been inaccessible using hot-injection approaches so far – with profound consequences for the light-emitting properties of the resulting materials [3].

[1] J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 23, 8647–8653 [2] J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 34, 15862–15870 [3] J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 19, 16536–16544