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Diffusion-mediated synthesis of high-quality organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite nanocrystals

Nature Synthesis volume 4, pages 167–176 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) (APbX3, A = formamidinium, methylammonium, X = Cl, Br, I) are semiconductor materials with important implications for fundamental research and optoelectronic applications. However, the development of hybrid PNCs lags behind their all-inorganic counterparts (CsPbX3), primarily due to their fast growth time (tens of seconds) caused by the uncontrollable kinetics of their synthesis. Here we present a diffusion-mediated synthesis approach by selecting lead precursors with desired solubility in the reaction solvent. Pb(SCN)2, which has limited solubility, serves as a lead reservoir, providing a continuous source of lead throughout the reaction process. This strategy significantly slows down the reaction kinetics. The synthesis time for hybrid PNCs can be drastically prolonged to 180 min, while maintaining the size-focusing stage. As a result, the diffusion-mediated kinetics enables the scalable synthesis of high-quality hybrid PNCs with high monodispersity and near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield. The high-quality hybrid PNCs obtained by this method will stimulate explorations into their properties and drive the development of efficient optoelectronic devices.

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Fig. 1: Growth mechanisms for hybrid lead halide PNCs.
Fig. 2: Monitoring the growth of FAPbI3 nanocrystals synthesized by conventional and diffusion-mediated approaches.
Fig. 3: Size-focusing kinetics study.
Fig. 4: Extension of the diffusion-mediated synthesis method to the colloidal synthesis of hybrid organic–inorganic FAPbX3 (X = I, Br, Cl) PNCs.
Fig. 5: Extension of the diffusion-mediated synthesis method to the colloidal synthesis of hybrid organic–inorganic MAPbX3 (X = I, Br, Cl) PNCs.
Fig. 6: Charge-carrier dynamics of FAPbI3 nanocrystal films.

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All necessary data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article, and other auxiliary data are available from the corresponding authors upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2022YFE0110300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 92163114, 52372215 and 52002260), the Special Fund for the ‘Dual Carbon’ Science and Technology Innovation of Jiangsu Province (Industrial Prospect and Key Technology Research Program) (grant numbers BE2022021 and BE2022023), the Gusu Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leading Talent Program (grant number ZXL2022451) and the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (grant number 21KJA430004). This work is supported by Suzhou Key Laboratory of Functional Nano & Soft Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science & Technology, and the 111 Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Joint International Research Laboratory of Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Xiang Sun, Lin Yuan, Yang Liu, Guozheng Shi, Xuliang Zhang, Yaxin Zhao, Chenyu Zhao, Mengmeng Ma, Boyuan Shen, Zeke Liu & Wanli Ma

  2. Faculty of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan

    Guozheng Shi & Qing Shen

  3. State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Science (RAD-X) and Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Yumin Wang & Yaxing Wang

  4. The College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Chunmeng Liu

  5. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Zeke Liu & Wanli Ma

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Contributions

Z.L. and W.M. conceived the idea and supervised the project. X.S. designed the experiments. X.S., L.Y., Y.Z., C.Z. and X.Z. performed the experiments and data analysis. G.S. and Q.S. conducted the PL decay measurement. G.S., Yumin Wang and Yaxing Wang measured the TA spectra. M.M. and B.S. contributed to the high-resolution STEM measurement. Y.L. and C.L. contributed to in situ PL data analysis. X.S., Z.L. and W.M. co-wrote the paper with contributions from all authors.

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Correspondence to Zeke Liu or Wanli Ma.

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Nature Synthesis thanks Tae-Woo Lee, Tao Xu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Alison Stoddart, in collaboration with the Nature Synthesis team.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Materials and additional experimental methods, Supplementary Figs. 1–29, Note 1, and Tables 1–6.

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Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Raw data of in situ PL spectra of FAPbI3 nanocrystals synthesized by conventional and diffusion-mediated approaches.

Source Data Fig. 2

Unprocessed TEM images of FAPbI3 nanocrystals with different reaction times synthesized by conventional and diffusion-mediated approaches.

Source Data Fig. 3

Raw data of in situ PL spectra of FAPbI3 nanocrystals.

Source Data Fig. 3

Unprocessed TEM images of FAPbI3 nanocrystals with different reaction times.

Source Data Fig. 4

Raw data of absorption, PL, PLQY and XRD spectra of FAPbX3 (X = I, Br or Cl) nanocrystals.

Source Data Fig. 4

Unprocessed TEM images of FAPbX3 (X = I, Br or Cl) nanocrystals.

Source Data Fig. 5

Raw data of absorption, PL, PLQY and XRD spectra of MAPbX3 (X = I, Br or Cl) nanocrystals.

Source Data Fig. 5

Unprocessed TEM images of MAPbX3 (X = I, Br or Cl) nanocrystals.

Source Data Fig. 6

Raw data of TA and PL mapping spectra of FAPbI3 nanocrystals.

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Sun, X., Yuan, L., Liu, Y. et al. Diffusion-mediated synthesis of high-quality organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite nanocrystals. Nat. Synth 4, 167–176 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-024-00678-3

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