Record High External Quantum Efficiency of 19.2% Achieved in Light-Emitting Diodes of Colloidal Quantum Wells Enabled by Hot-Injection Shell Growth

Colloidal quantum wells (CQWs) are regarded as a new, highly promising class of optoelectronic materials thanks to their unique excitonic characteristics of high extinction coefficient and ultranarrow emission bandwidth. Although the exploration of CQWs in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is impressive, the performance of CQW-LEDs lags far behind compared with other types of LEDs (e.g., organic LEDs, colloidal quantum-dot LEDs, and perovskite LEDs). Herein, for the first time, the authors show high-efficiency CQW-LEDs reaching close to the theoretical limit. A key factor for this high performance is the exploitation of hot-injection shell (HIS) growth of CQWs, which enables a near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), reduces nonradiative channels, ensures smooth films and enhances the stability. Remarkably, the PLQY remains 95% in solution and 87% in film despite rigorous cleaning. Through systematically understanding their shape-, composition- and device- engineering, the CQW-LEDs using CdSe/Cd_0.25Zn_0.75S core/HIS CQWs exhibit a maximum external quantum efficiency of 19.2%. Additionally, a high luminance of 23,490 cd m^-2, extremely saturated red color with the Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage coordinates of (0.715, 0.283) and stable emission are obtained. The findings indicate that HIS grown CQWs enable high-performance solution-processed LEDs, which may pave the path for CQW-based display and lighting technologies.