Efficient Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Trioctylphosphine Oxide-Passivated Organometallic Halide Perovskites

ACS Omega. 2019 May 23;4(5):9150-9159. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b00464. eCollection 2019 May 31.

Abstract

Metal halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs) have attracted significant research interest in the next-generation display and solid illumination fields due to their excellent optical properties of high photoluminescence quantum efficiency, high color purity, obvious quantum confinement effect, and large exciton binding energy. A large amount of surface defects and nonradiative recombination induced by these defects are considered as major problems to be resolved urgently for practical applications of perovskite QDs in high-efficiency light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Herein, we report an efficient passivation of green perovskite QD CH3NH3PbBr3 with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO). By simply adding the appropriate amount of TOPO into the nonpolar toluene solvent to synthesize CH3NH3PbBr3 QDs, the surface defects of these as-synthesized perovskite QDs are obviously reduced, along with an increased photoluminescence lifetime and suppressed nonradiative recombination. Further investigation indicates that electronegative oxygen from TOPO (Lewis base) bonds with uncoordinated Pb2+ ions and labile lead atoms in perovskite. With TOPO passivation, the green perovskite QD LEDs based on CH3NH3PbBr3 show significant performance improvement factors of 93.5, 161.1, and 168.9% for luminance, current efficiency, and external quantum efficiency, respectively, reaching values of 1635 cd m-2, 5.51 cd A-1, and 1.64% in the eventual optimized devices. Furthermore, the presence of TOPO dramatically improves stabilities of CH3NH3PbBr3 QDs and related devices. Our work provides a robust platform for the fabrication of low-defect-density perovskite QDs and efficient, stable perovskite QD LEDs.