Effect of silica encapsulation on the stability and photoluminescence emission of FAPbI3 nanocrystals for white-light-emitting perovskite diodes

The α-FAPbI3 perovskite nanocrystals exhibit interesting optical properties, which make them attractive for versatile optoelectronic applications; however, the spontaneous phase transformation to the non-perovskite phase (δ-FAPbI3) in humid conditions requires a new strategy to improve the phase stability of the material. We employed 3-Aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES)-assisted reprecipitation and sol-gel methods at ambient temperature to prepare stable α-FAPbI3 nanocrystals embedded in a silica matrix. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis determined that ultrafine perovskite nanocrystals (11.5 ± 3 nm) were uniformly distributed in a silica matrix. Investigations of the optical properties of the synthesized materials revealed that about 94% of the photoluminescence (PL) emission of silica-encapsulated FAPbI3 nanocrystals was preserved under humid conditions (60%) after at least a month, while the PL emission of untreated FAPbI3 was significantly decayed after few days. The thermal analysis also determined that the thermal stability of FAPbI3 nanocrystals was improved by silica encapsulation. The red-emitting silica-encapsulated FAPbI3 nanocrystals with a wavelength of 720 nm were used to fabricate white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in a vertical structure consisting of a blue-chip, PMMA/CsPbBr3 QDs, and PMMA/FAPbI3-SiO2 QDs. Stable perovskite-based white LEDs with a color gamut of 144% NTSC were fabricated, which was better than many phosphor-based and perovskite-based LEDs. The synthesized composite perovskite nanocrystals could be used for next-generation optoelectronic devices.