Mechanistic Insight Into Surface Defect Control in Perovskite Nanocrystals: Ligands Terminate the Valence Transition From Pb 2+ to Metallic Pb 0

Organolead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have emerged as promising materials for various optoelectronic applications. However, their practical applications have been limited due to low structural integrity and poor luminescnece stability associated with fast attachment-detachment dynamics of surface capping molecules during post-processing. At present a framework for understanding how the functional additives interact with surface moieties of organolead halide perovskites is not available. Methylammonium lead bromide NCs without surfactants on their surface provide an ideal system to investigate the direct interactions of the perovskite with functional molecules. When the oleic acid is used in a combination with n-octylamine, its contribution to surface passivation was significantly increased by protonating the alkyl amine to the corresponding ammonium ion. Our results demonstrate that the Br vacancies at the non-passivated surface result in a reduction of Pb2+ to Pb0 by trapping electrons generated from the exciton dissociation, which provides a main pathway for exciton trapping.