Reversible Luminescence Photoswitching of Colloidal CsPbBr₃ Nanocrystals Hybridized with a Diarylethene Photoswitch

Perovskite lead halide quantum dots (QDs) have attracted much attention because of their excellent optical properties such as high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields, narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM), and tunability of emission color. The application of such materials in optical memories and bioimaging requires a reversible PL switching property. Here we report a reversible luminescence photoswitching of QDs hybridized with an organic photochromic diarylethene (DAE) photoswitch. A DAE derivative having triethoxysilane (TEOS) was synthesized to add the luminescence-photoswitching property and to stabilize the perovskite QDs by surface coverage. Such luminescent photoswitchable QD systems have great potential for application in various optical devices and luminescence probes for microscopic imaging.