Cesium Methylammonium Lead Iodide (CsxMA1-xPbI3) Nanocrystals with Wide Range Cation Composition Tuning and Enhanced Thermal Stability of the Perovskite Phase

Cesium methylammonium lead iodide (Cs(x)MA(1-x)PbI(3)) nanocrystals were obtained with a wide range of A-site Cs-MA compositions by post-synthetic, room temperature cation exchange between CsPbI3 nanocrystals and MAPbI(3) nanocrystals. The alloyed Cs(x)MA(1-x)PbI(3) nanocrystals retain their photoactive perovskite phase with incorporated Cs content, x, as high as 0.74 and the expected composition-tunable photoluminescence (PL). Excess methylammonium oleate from the reaction mixture in the MAPbI(3) nanocrystal dispersions was necessary to obtain fast Cs-MA cation exchange. The phase transformation and degradation kinetics of films of Cs(x)MA(1-x)PbI(3) nanocrystals were measured and modeled using an Avrami expression. The transformation kinetics were significantly slower than those of the parent CsPbI3 and MAPbI(3) nanocrystals, with Avrami rate constants, k, at least an order of magnitude smaller. These results affirm that A-site cation alloying is a promising strategy for stabilizing iodide-based perovskites.