Halides perovskites nanocrystals synthesized in green solvents

Metal halide perovskites nanocrystals (MHP NCs) are really promising material due to their exceptional optoelectronic properties which could be controlled by the tuning of the shape (cubes, rods, platelets) and the thickness (monolayer, bilayers, etc.). Even if several syntheses could be performed to obtain MHP NCs, the best in term of shape and size control is the Hot Injection method (HInj). This procedure consists in a quick injection of one or more reactive into a solution of all the other ones at a definite temperature (usually between 100°C and 250°C). The reaction starts with a sudden nucleation followed by a growth step. The reaction finishes with a quench by a temperature-lowering. Traditionally, HInj is performed in non-polar, high boiling point solvent such as 1-octadecene (ODE), decane, dioctyl ether (DOE), diphenyl ether etc. In this work, we report how is possible to use green solvents with high boiling point and dielectric constant similar to the aforementioned solvent to obtain MHP NCs retaining the optical properties. Limonene and α-pinene are being employed instead of ODE, DOE or decane as solvent in perovskites nanocrystal synthesis both lead-based (e.g. CsPbBr3) and lead-free (e.g. Cs2AgInCl6).