(Invited) Lead Halide Perovskite Nanowire and Nanoplate Lasers with Low Lasing Thresholds and High Quality Factors

The remarkable performance of lead halide perovskites in solar cells can be attributed to the long carrier lifetimes and low non-radiative recombination rates, the same physical properties that are ideal for semiconductor lasers. Here we first report new insights on the crystal growth of the perovskite materials and the solution growth of single crystal nanowires, nanorods, and nanoplates of methylammonium lead halide and other perovskites via a dissolution-recrystallization pathway from lead iodide or lead acetate films coated on substrates. We further show room temperature and wavelength tunable lasing from single crystal lead halide perovskite nanowires with the lowest lasing thresholds (220 nJ/cm²) and highest quality factors (Q  ~ 3600) reported to date for semiconductor nanowire lasers. The lasing threshold corresponds to a charge carrier density as low as 1.5×10¹⁶/cm³. Kinetic analysis based on time-resolved fluorescence reveals little charge carrier trapping in these single crystal nanowires and gives estimated lasing quantum yields approaching 100%. Such lasing performance, coupled with facile solution phase growth of single crystal NWs and broad tunability of emission color from stoichiometry, makes lead halide perovskites ideal materials for the development of nano-photonics, in parallel with the rapid development in photovoltaic technology from the same materials.