Natural Wax-Stabilized Perovskite Nanocrystals as Pen-on-Paper Inks and Doughs

Perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) are emerging luminescent materials for a wide range of technological applications. The broad adaptation of PNCs will be greatly improved by addressing their intrinsically low stability and developing processes for their assembly into 2D and 3D structures using facile approaches. Inspired by the mechanism of natural protection of leaves, this paper proposes natural carnauba wax (CW) as an encapsulation material for PNCs. The synthesis of PNCs is performed in the presence of CW, which is derived from the leaves of Copernicia prunifera palm. CW acts as a solvent and replaces the commonly used octadecene in the preparation of PNCs. The facile synthesis in CW results in PNCs with greatly improved thermal, water, and air stability. Furthermore, the thermal and mechanical properties make PNC-Wax a highly suitable solid ink for versatile processing of these materials into 2D and 3D architectures. PNC-Wax can be printed via a pen-on-paper approach by heating at modest temperatures. The rapid plasticization of PNC-Wax by mechanical agitation enables hand-shaping of the material in a manner similar to playdoughs, which would possibly enable the versatile use of this material for various applications.