Switching excitonic recombination and carrier trapping in cesium lead halide perovskites by air

Abstract All-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskites have been emerging as the promising semiconductor materials for next-generation optoelectronics. However, the fundamental question of how the environmental atmosphere affects their photophysical properties, which is closely related to the practical applications, remains elusive. Here, we report the dynamic switching between radiative exciton recombination and non-radiative carrier trapping in CsPbBr 3 by controlling the atmospheric conditions. Specifically, we show that the photoluminescence (PL) intensity from the CsPbBr 3 crystals can be boosted by ~ 60 times by changing the surrounding from vacuum to air. Based on the comprehensive optical characterization, near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we unravel that the physisorption of oxygen molecules, which repairs the trap states by passivating the PL-quenching bromine vacancies, is accountable for the enhanced PL in air. These results are helpful for better understanding the optical properties of all-inorganic perovskites.