One-step synthesis of highly fluorescent perovskite nanocrystals in antisolvent for bioimaging

All inorganic perovskite nanocrystals (CsPbX₃ NCs) have excellent optical properties with high quantum yield, size tunable absorption and emission spectra which makes them popular for a wide variety of applications. All the commonly used synthesis techniques, such as hot injection and ligand assisted reprecipitation method (LARP), use ‘good’ solvent such as dimethyl formamide, dimethyl sulfoxide or octadecene to dissolve the precursor salts. The CsPbX₃ NCs formation is triggered either by rapid injection of the dissolved precursor salt in hot mixture (hot injection) or by adding a ‘good’ solvent into a ‘poor’ solvent (LARP) that induces crystallization. Here, we present an alternative synthesis of CsPbX₃ perovskite nanocrystals in an antisolvent system, instead of a ‘good’ solvent. Crystallization in the antisolvent is induced by adding a trace amount of water, leading to the formation of highly bright CsPbX₃ nanocrystals. This method resulted in a maximum photoluminescent quantum yield of ∼91%. Furthermore, these CsPbBr₃ NCs can be modified to create core–shell structures with polymers such as silica, in the same pot. Encapsulating the NCs within a protective silica shell resulted in vastly superior water stability compared to the bare NCs. The silica coated CsPbBr₃ NCs showed strong fluorescence in water were used to label breast cancer cells, thereby demonstrating its potential as an optical contrast agent for advanced bioimaging applications. Overall, this synthesis approach requires minimal steps and time, and can be carried out in an ambient atmosphere, thereby increasing its versatility and practicality, which is particularly attractive in low-resource settings.