Highly Efficient Sky-Blue Perovskite Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes via Ligand-Assisted Trap-State Passivation

Abstract

Lead-halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs) have garnered considerable attention in the field of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) due to their extraordinary optoelectronic properties. However, it is still difficult to fabricate blue LEDs with high efficiency, due to the surface trap-mediated non-radiative charge recombination from unstable emitters. Herein, short-chain ligand tridecylamine (TDA) is introduced as a surface passivation strategy to synthesize high-performance sky-blue CsPbBr₃ QDs via size engineering, which show a stable photoluminescence (PL) intensity with a higher PL quantum yield (PLQY). This improvement is achieved through well-suppressed surface defects by the ligand TDA with stronger affinity, resulting in the reduced non-radiative recombination due to trap-state passivation. Consequently, high-efficiency sky-blue QD LEDs were fabricated, which presented a peak EQE of 13.6% at 492 nm. Our findings suggest that this feasible surface modification approach can alter carrier dynamics and facilitate charge injection balance to develop stable and efficient perovskite LEDs.

Keywords

light-emitting diodes / non-radiative recombination / perovskite quantum dots / surface defects / trap-state passivation

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2026 The Author(s). Energy & Environmental Materials published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Zhengzhou University.