Benzothiazole ligand engineering enables near-unity photoluminescence and long-term stability in CsPbI3 perovskite quantum dots

All-inorganic CsPbI₃ perovskite quantum dots (PeQDs) are promising red emitters and photoactive semiconductors for next-generation displays, micro-LED color conversion, and photodetection. However, their applications are limited by the metastability of black-phase CsPbI₃, dynamically bound OA/OAm ligands, and inefficient charge transport across long-chain insulating surfaces. Herein, we integrate continuous-flow synthesis with benzothiazole-based short-chain ligand engineering to develop efficient, stable, and device-ready CsPbI₃ PeQDs. The flow reactor precisely regulates nucleation and crystal growth, while 2-aminobenzothiazole (ABT) and 6-(tert-butyl)benzo[d]thiazol-2-amine (ABT-tBu) passivate undercoordinated Pb-related surface defects and reduce interparticle transport barriers. The optimized ABT-tBu PeQDs exhibit bright red emission at 678 nm, a photoluminescence quantum yield of 99 %, 98 % PLQY retention after more than 70 days under ambient conditions, and robust thermal cycling stability up to 125 °C. The resulting PeQDs enable LED backlighting with a color gamut of 148.7 % NTSC 1931, uniform red micro-LED color conversion, and planar photodetectors with over 50-fold enhancements in photogain and responsivity. This work provides a scalable materials strategy for high-performance CsPbI₃ PeQDs-based optoelectronic devices.

Equipment used in this paper: R-Series Flow Chemistry System

• Huang YT¹
• Lin YH¹
• Shang X²
• Verma H ^3,4,5,6
• Chou YY¹
• Chen CC⁷
• Liang KL⁸
• Huang SC³
• Chen X²
• Kaun CC³
• Wei DH⁷
• Liu RS¹

•   ¹Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
• ²State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry and Fujian Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China
• ³Research Center for Applied Sciences Academia Sinica, Academia Road 128, Section 2, Nangang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
• ⁴Nano Science and Technology Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University, Academia Road 128, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan
• ⁵Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
• ⁶Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, Academia Road 128, Section 2, Nangang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
• ⁷Institute of Manufacturing Technology and Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan
• ⁸Electronic and Optoelectronic System Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 310, Taiwan

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