Laser-Induced Localized Growth of Methylammonium Lead Halide Perovskite Nano- and Microcrystals on Substrates

Perovskite-based optoelectronic devices have shown remarkable performances, especially in the field of photovoltaics. Still, a rapid solution-processing approach able to produce localized stable perovskite crystals remains a general challenge, and is a key step toward the miniaturization of such materials in on-chip components. This study presents the confined growth of methylammonium (MA) lead halide perovskite crystals that is thermally induced through localized laser irradiation. Importantly, such structures remain stable over time; that is, they neither dissolve back into the surrounding liquid nor detach from the substrate. This is attributed to a chemical reaction locally triggered by the induced heat on the substrate surface that is transferred to the perovskite precursors (liquid) layer, thus generating "on-demand" MA ions from the N-methylformamide solvent. By tuning the laser parameters, such as power density or irradiation time, variations in shape and size of the crystals, from microcrystals of approximate to 50 mu m to nanocuboids of approximate to 500 mu m, are observed. This study also demonstrates that with an optimized distance between the irradiated regions and by controlling the relative laser displacement speed, luminescent and photoconductive MAPbBr3 wires and microplates can be generated.