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 (Csx MA1-x PbI3 ) nanocrystals were obtained with a wide range of A-site Cs-MA compositions by post-synthetic, room temperature cation exchange between CsPbI3 nanocrystals and MAPbI3 nanocrystals. The alloyed Csx MA1-x PbI3 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 MAPbI3 nanocrystal dispersions was necessary to obtain fast Cs-MA cation exchange. The phase transformation and degradation kinetics of films of Csx MA1-x PbI3 nanocrystals were measured and modeled using an Avrami expression. The transformation kinetics were significantly slower than those of the parent CsPbI3 and MAPbI3 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.