The
key to exploiting perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) for long-term
practical use in optoelectronic materials and devices lies in the
ability to access stable NCs. Herein, we report the crafting of hairy
perovskite NCs with a set of markedly improved stabilities by capitalizing
on rationally designed star-like molecular bottlebrush trilobes as
nanoreactors. An intriguing star-like molecular bottlebrush trilobe,
poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-graft-(poly(acrylic
acid)-block-partially cross-linked polystyrene (denoted
PHEMA-g-(PAA-b-cPS)) is synthesized. Subsequently, it is employed as a polymeric
nanoreactor to direct the growth of green-emitting all-inorganic perovskite
CsPbBr3 NCs intimately and stably tethered by partially
cross-linked PS “hairs” (i.e., cPS-capped
CsPbBr3 NCs). The resulting CsPbBr3 NCs exhibit
an array of impressive stabilities against UV irradiation, moisture,
heat, and water, due to permanently ligated hydrophobic cPS “hairs” on the surface of CsPbBr3 NCs
as a result of the original covalent bonding between PAA and cPS blocks. More importantly, cPS-capped
CsPbBr3 NCs manifest outstanding stability in various polar
organic solvents. Such greatly improved stability can be attributed
to the reduced surface defects enabled by the favorable interaction
(i.e., coordination interaction and hydrogen bonding) between CsPbBr3 NCs and polar solvents, which dominates over their dissolution
by polar solvents. Such exceptional stabilities impart the use of cPS-capped CsPbBr3 NCs as a selective probe for
tracing the presence of Cl–/I– in polar organic solvents. The amphiphilic nonlinear block copolymer
nanoreactor strategy can afford easy access to stable perovskite NCs
of interest with controlled compositions and surface chemistry. They
may find applications in solar cells, LEDs, photodetectors, lasers,
bioimaging, biosensors, etc.