Advances and Challenges in Tin Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals

A major application limit for lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) is the presence of the highly toxic lead element, raising critical concerns of environmental pollution and health problems. To address this issue, tin halide perovskite NCs have been pushed to the forefront of perovskite research owing to their eco-friendly merit and tantalizing photophysical properties. In this Review, we critically summarize and assess the latest advances in the synthesis approaches of tin halide perovskite NCs including the hot injection, ligand-assisted reprecipitation, and chemical vapor deposition. More specifically, we detail the state-of-the-art preliminary studies in modulating their photophysical properties and in enhancing the stability with a variety of strategies such as precursor engineering, ligand engineering, and alloyed structure construction. Finally, we highlight the remaining challenges that need to be overcome to attain tin halide perovskite NCs with clear structure–property relationships and comparable physical and chemical properties to their lead-based cousins.