Space Charge Transfer in Hybrid Inorganic/Organic Systems
Yong Xu, Oliver T. Hofmann, Raphael Schlesinger, Stefanie Winkler, Johannes Frisch, Jens Niederhausen, Antje Vollmer, Sylke Blumstengel, Fritz Henneberger, Norb… 展开作者
Yong Xu, Oliver T. Hofmann, Raphael Schlesinger, Stefanie Winkler, Johannes Frisch, Jens Niederhausen, Antje Vollmer, Sylke Blumstengel, Fritz Henneberger, Norbert Koch, Patrick Rinke, Matthias Scheffler
We discuss density functional theory calculations of hybrid inorganic/organic systems (HIOS) that explicitly include the global effects of doping (i.e. position of the Fermi level) and the formation of a space-charge layer. For the example of tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) on the ZnO(000$\bar{1}$) surface we show that the adsorption energy and electron transfer depend strongly on the ZnO doping. The associated work function changes are large, for which the formation of space-charge layers is the main driving force. The prominent doping effects are expected to be quite general for charge-transfer interfaces in HIOS and important for device design.
Organic-inorganic halide perovskites have been intensively re-investigated due to their applications, yet the opto-electronic function of the organic cation remains unclear. Through organic-selective resonant Auger electron spectroscopy measurements on well-defined single crystal surfaces, we find evidence for electronic coupling in the unoccupied states between the organic and inorganic sub-lattices of the prototypical hybrid perovskite, which is contrary to the notion based on previous studies that the organic cation is electronically inert. The coupling is relevant for electron dynamics in …
For a class of 2D hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite semiconductors based on $π$-conjugated organic cations, we predict quantitatively how varying the organic and inorganic component allows control over the nature, energy and localization of carrier states in a quantum-well-like fashion. Our first-principles predictions, based on large-scale hybrid density-functional theory with spin-orbit coupling, show that the interface between the organic and inorganic parts within a single hybrid can be modulated systematically, enabling us to select between different type-I and type-II energy level alig…
We present a code to calculate effective masses from energy dispersion relation using finite difference method on a five-point stencil. We validate our code against inorganic (GaAs and InP) and organic (pentacene and rubrene) crystals.
We report the successful extraction of spin polarized current from the organic-based room temperature ferrimagnetic semiconductor V[TCNE]x (x~2, TCNE: tetracyanoethylene; TC ~ 400 K, EG ~ 0.5 eV, s ~ 10-2 S/cm) and its subsequent injection into a GaAs/AlGaAs light-emitting diode (LED). The spin current tracks the magnetization of V[TCNE]x~2, is weakly temperature dependent, and exhibits heavy hole / light hole asymmetry. This result has implications for room temperature spintronics and the use of inorganic materials to probe spin physics in organic and molecular systems.
We studied the electron transfer from excitons in adsorbed indoline dye layers across the organic-inorganic interface. The hybrids consist of indoline derivatives on the one hand and different inorganic substrates (TiO$_2$, ZnO, SiO$_2$(0001), fused silica) on the other. We reveal the electron transfer times from excitons in dye layers to the organic-inorganic interface by analyzing the photoluminescence transients of the dye layers after femtosecond excitation and applying kinetic model calculations. A correlation between the transfer times and four parameters have been found:(i) the number o…
Organic-inorganic multiferroics are promising for the next generation of electronic devices. To date, dozens of organic-inorganic multiferroics have been reported; however, most of them show magnetic Curie temperature much lower than room temperature, which drastically hampers their application. Here, by performing first-principle calculations and building effective model Hamiltonians, we reveal a molecular orbital-mediated magnetic coupling mechanism in two-dimensional Cr(pyz)2 (pyz=pyrazine), and the role that the valence state of the molecule plays in determining the magnetic coupling type …
Organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells have recently attracted much attention due to their low-cost fabrication, flexibility, and high-power conversion efficiency. The reduction from three- to two-dimension (2D) promises an exciting opportunity to tune the electronic properties of organic-inorganic halide perovskites. Here, we propose first-principles density-functional theory based route to study the effect of reduced dimensionality, impurity doping, and heterostructure engineering on energy stability, band-gap and transport properties of 2D hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskite…
We have studied the prototype hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 and its three close relatives, CH3NH3SnI3, CH3NH3PbCl3 and CsPbI3, using relativistic density function theory. The long-range van der Waals (vdW) interactions were incorporated into the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange-correlation functional using the Tkatchenko-Scheffler pairwise scheme. Our results reveal that hydrogen bonding, which is well described by the PBE functional, plays a decisive role for the structural parameters of these systems, including the position and orientation of the organic cation as well …
Organic-inorganic coupling in the hybrid lead-halide perovskite is a central issue in rationalizing the outstanding photovoltaic performance of these emerging materials. Here we compare and contrast the evolution of structure and dynamics of the hybrid CH3NH3PbBr3 and the inorganic CsPbBr3 lead-halide perovskites with temperature, using Raman spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Results reveal a stark contrast between their order-disorder transitions, abrupt for the hybrid whereas smooth for the inorganic perovskite. X-ray diffraction observes an intermediate incommensurate phase…
Organic dopants are frequently used to surface-dope inorganic semiconductors. The resulted hybrid inorganic-organic materials have a crucial role in advanced functional materials and semiconductor devices. In this article, we study charge transfer at hybrid silicon-molecule interfaces theoretically. The idea is to filter out the best molecular acceptors to dope silicon with hole densities as high as 1013 cm-2. Here, we use a combinatorial algorithm merging chemical hardness method and first-principles DFT and GW calculations. We start by using the chemical hardness method which is simple and f…
Recently, low-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid halide compounds have aroused great attention in the optoelectronic field, due to the unique topology and optical properties. Herein, we report an Mn4+ doped [N(CH3)4]2TiF6 zero-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid phosphor, which could not only exhibit very narrow and pure red emission, but also maintain efficient emission intensity at room temperature. The crystal structure, photoluminescence properties and temperature sensing application are discussed. The excellent temperature dependent luminescent properties are attributed to the rigid st…
New sol-gel derived organic/inorganic hybrid single mode waveguides devices have been developed for telecommunication applications in the two near infrared windows at 1310 and 1550 nm. The overall procedure of fabrication of these devices is described and the refractive indices of the guiding, the buffer and the protective layers are adjusted by a precise control of the materials' composition. Due to the improvement of the composition of the guiding layer, the attenuation losses are significantly decreased to 0.8 dB/cm and 2dB/cm at respectively 1310 and 1550 nm.
Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites such as methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) are game-changing semiconductors for solar cells and light-emitting devices owing to their exceptionally long carrier lifetime and diffusion length. Determining whether the large dipole moment of the organic cation and dynamic disorder benefit the optoelectronic properties of CH3NH3PbI3 has been an outstanding challenge. Herein, via transient absorption measurements employing an infrared pump pulse tuned to a methylammonium vibration, we observe slow, nanosecond-long thermal dissipation from the selectively ex…
In a combined theoretical and experimental work, we investigate X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy of the I $L_3$ and the Pb $M_5$ edges of the methylammonium lead iodide ($\textrm{MAPbI}_3$) hybrid inorganic-organic perovskite and its binary phase $\textrm{PbI}_2$. The absorption onsets are dominated by bound excitons with sizable binding energies of a few hundred meV and pronounced anisotropy. The spectra of both materials exhibit remarkable similarities, suggesting that the fingerprints of core excitations in $\textrm{MAPbI}_3$ are essentially given by its inorganic c…
In hybrid perovskites, the organic molecules and inorganic frameworks exhibit distinct static and dynamic characteristics. Their coupling will lead to unprecedented phenomena, which have attracted wide research interests. In this paper, we employed Deep Potential molecular dynamics (DPMD), a large-scale MD simulation scheme with DFT accuracy, to study $\mathrm{FA/MAPbI_3}$ hybrid perovskites. A spontaneous hybrid nano-domain behavior, namely multiple molecular rotation nano-domains embedded into a single $\mathrm{[PbI_6]^{4-}}$ octahedra rotation domain, was firstly discovered at low temperatu…
2D layered hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) have demonstrated improved stability and promising photovoltaic performance. The mechanical properties of such functional materials are both fundamentally and practically important to achieve both high performance and mechanical stable (flexible) devices. Here we report the mechanical properties of a series of 2D layered lead iodide HOIPs and investigate the role of structural sub-units (e.g., variation of the length of the organic spacer molecules -R and the number of inorganic layer -n) on the mechanical properties. While 2D HOIPs have …
Here we demonstrate that significant progress in this area may be achieved by introducing structural elements that form hydrogen bonds with environment. Considering several examples of hybrid framework materials with different structural ordering containing protonated sulfonium cation H3S+ that forms strong hydrogen bonds with electronegative halogen anions (Cl-, F-), we found that hydrogen bonding increases the structural stability of the material and may be used for tuning electronic states near the bandgap. We suggest that such a behavior has a universal character and should be observed in …
In a search for Lead-free materials that could be used as alternatives to the hybrid perovskites,(MA)PbX3, in photovoltaic applications, we have discovered a hybrid double perovskite, (MA)2KBiCl6, which shows striking similarities to the lead analogues. Spectroscopic measurements and nanoindentation studies are combined with density functional calculations to reveal the properties of this interesting system.
The esoteric importance of intermolecular hydrogen bonding interaction to design novel methylammonium trihalide organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cell materials is uncovered, establishing the unified structure-property relationship between the calculated Y...H intermolecular hydrogen bonding distance and the experimentally reported onset of optical absorption (bandgap) for the bulk geometries of the ten-membered methylammonium lead trihalide (CH3NH3PbY3) perovskite solar cell series, where Y = X (X = Cl, Br, I) and the mixed halogen derivatives. The same relationship is also revealed f…
Enantiopurity-Controlled Magnetism in a Two-Dimensional Organic-Inorganic Material
University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory（劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室）；Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory（劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室分子发现中心）；Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute（卡弗里能源纳米科学研究所）；Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory（劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室化学科学部）
We present an experimental and theoretical viewpoint on the electronic carrier mobilities of typical hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs). While these mobilities are often quoted as high, a review of them shows that although otherwise the semiconducting properties of HOIPs are impressively good, mobilities of HOIPs used in most solar cells are actually not that high. This is especially apparent if they are compared to those of inorganic semiconductors used in other high efficiency solar cells. We critically examine possible causes and focus on electron-lattice coupling mechanisms that …
Entropy is a critical, but often overlooked, factor in determining the relative stabilities of crystal phases. The importance of entropy is most pronounced in softer materials, where small changes in free energy can drive phase transitions, which has recently been demonstrated in the case of organic-inorganic hybrid-formate perovskites. In this study we demonstrate the interplay between composition and crystal-structure that is responsible for the particularly pronounced role of entropy in determining polymorphism in hybrid organic-inorganic materials. Using ab initio based lattice dynamics we…
We report on the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity of single crystalline and polycrystalline organometallic perovskite CH3NH3PbI3. The comparable absolute values and temperature dependence of the two sample's morphologies indicate the minor role of the grain boundaries on the heat transport. Theoretical modelling demonstrates the importance of the resonant scattering in both specimens. The interaction between phonon waves and rotational degrees of freedom of CH3NH3+ sub-lattice emerges as the dominant mechanism for attenuation of heat transport and for ultralow thermal conductivit…
Mixed Organic Cation in Chiral Two-Dimensional Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Metal Halides: An ab-initio Study of Nonlinear Optical (NLO) Properties
Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)（中国科学院福建物质结构研究所）；Anna University（安娜大学）；Sivas Cumhuriyet University（锡瓦斯恰姆别特大学）；CNR-SPIN（意大利国家研究委员会自旋电子学中心）
The electronic properties of hybrid organic-inorganic semiconductor interfaces depend strongly on the alignment of the electronic carrier levels in the organic/inorganic components. In the present work, we address this energy level alignment from first principles theory for two paradigmatic organic-inorganic semiconductor interfaces, the singlet fission materials tetracene and pentacene on H/Si(111), using all-electron hybrid density functional theory. For isolated tetracene on H/Si(111), a type I-like heterojunction (lowest-energy electron and hole states on Si) is found. For isolated pentace…
Great success has been achieved in improving the photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency of the organic-inorganic perovskite-based solar cells, but with very limited knowledge on the thermal transport in hybrid perovskites, which would affect the device lifetime and stability. Based on the potential developed from the density functional theory calculations, we studied the lattice thermal conductivity of the hybrid halide perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 using equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. Temperature-dependent thermal conductivity is reported from 160 K to 400 K, which covers the tetragon…
Understanding the fundamental mechanisms ruling laser-induced coherent charge transfer in hybrid organic/inorganic interfaces is of paramount importance to exploit these systems in next-generation opto-electronic applications. In a first-principles work based on real-time time-dependent density-functional theory, we investigate the ultrafast charge-carrier dynamics of a prototypical two-dimensional vertical nanojunction formed by a MoSe$_2$ monolayer with adsorbed pyrene molecules. The response of the system to the incident pulse, set in resonance with the frequency of the lowest-energy transi…
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) combine the best of two worlds by bridging heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. The superior catalytic properties of SACs, however, can hardly be exploited without a suitable substrate. Here, we explore the possibility of using hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites as supporting materials for single transition-metal atoms. By means of first-principles calculations, we predict that single Pt atoms can be incorporated into methylammonium lead iodide surfaces by replacing the methylammonium groups at the outermost layer. The iodide anions at the surface provide pot…
We develop a probabilistic machine learning model and use it to screen for new hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) with targeted electronic band gap. The data set used for this work is highly diverse, containing multiple atomic structures for each of 192 chemically distinct HOIP formulas. Therefore, any property prediction on a given formula must be associated with an irreducible "uncertainty" that comes from its unknown atomic details. As a result, dozens of new HOIP formulas with band gap falling between 1.25 and 1.50 eV were identified and validated against suitable first-principle…
There is great interest in hybrid organic-inorganic materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The compounds [C(NH$_{2}$)$_{3}$]M(HCOO)$_{3}$, where M=Cu$^{2+}$ or Cr$^{2+}$ are Jahn-Teller (JT) active ions, are MOF with perovskite topology which crystallizes in polar space group Pna2$_{1}$. In inorganic compounds, octahedral tilting and Jahn-Teller structural distortions are usually non-polar distortions. However, in this MOF cooperative interactions between the antiferro-distortive distortions of the framework and the C(NH2)$_{3}$ organic cation via hydrogen bonding breaks the invers…
Structural analysis of a layered manganese tungstate diaminoalkane hybrid series suggests that this compound forms a spin-5/2 spin-ladder structure. We use X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy results to infer the structure. DC magnetization of the manganese compound and a possible copper analogue appear to show that the manganese system behaves like 1-dimensional antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains (i.e. $J_{\parallel} \gg J_{\perp})$ while the copper system is fitted well by a $S = {1/2}$ spin ladder model, giving the parameters $g = 1.920 \pm 0.008$, $J_{…
Hybrid interfaces formed by inorganic semiconductors and organic molecules are intriguing materials for opto-electronics. Interfacial charge transfer is primarily responsible for their peculiar electronic structure and optical response. Hence, it is essential to gain insight into this fundamental process also beyond the static picture. Ab initio methods based on real-time time-dependent density-functional theory coupled to the Ehrenfest molecular dynamics scheme are ideally suited for this problem. We investigate a laser-excited hybrid inorganic/organic interface formed by the electron accepto…
Hybrid organic-inorganic (HOI) compounds are excellent candidates for a wide spectrum of applications in diverse fields such as optics, electronics, energy and biotechnology. Their broad range of versatility is achieved by combining the functionalities of organic and inorganic materials to generate unique properties. Current research has mostly focused on perovskite HOIs due to their wide range of uses in solar cells, photo detectors and memory devices. However, drawbacks such as instability and lead toxicity limit further implementation into other new areas. Thus, there is a need to develop s…
Organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites (HaPs) are intensively studied for their light-harvesting properties. Owing to the interplay between strong electron-electron interaction and spin-orbit coupling (SOC), their quantitative theoretical description is still a challenge as evidenced by the wide variety of results available in literature. Here, various methodologies for computing their electronic structure are evaluated, also accounting for SOC. More specific, the GW approach as well as variants of the hybrid functionals PBE0 and HSE are at the center of our investigations. For both functi…
We study the quasiparticle band gap of the hybrid organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite CH$_3$NH$_3$PbI$_3$, using many-body perturbation theory based on the $GW$ approximation. We perform a systematic analysis of the band gap sensitivity to relativistic spin-orbit effects, to the description of semicore Pb-5$d$ and I-4$d$ electrons, and to the starting Kohn-Sham eigenvalues. We find that the inclusion of semicore states increases the calculated band gap by 0.2 eV, and self-consistency on the quasiparticle eigenvalues using a scissor correction increases the band gap by 0.4 eV with respect …
Organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskites, in which the A cations of an ABX$_3$ perovskite are replaced by organic cations, may be used for photovoltaic and solar thermoelectric applications. In this contribution, we systematically study three lead-free hybrid perovskites, i.e., methylammonium tin iodide CH$_3$NH$_3$SnI$_3$, ammonium tin iodide NH$_4$SnI$_3$, and formamidnium tin iodide HC(NH$_2$)$_2$SnI$_3$, by first-principles calculations. We find that in addition to the commonly known motif in which the corner-shared SnI$_6$ octahedra form a three-dimensional network, these materials may…
The break-up of a nanowire with an organic ligand shell into discrete droplets is analysed in terms of the Rayleigh-Plateau instability. Explicit account is taken of the effect of the organic ligand shell upon the energetics and kinetics of surface diffusion in the wire. Both an initial perturbation analysis and a full numerical analysis of the evolution in wire morphology are conducted, and the governing non-dimensional groups are identified. The perturbation analysis is remarkably accurate in obtaining the main features of the instability, including the pinch-off time and the resulting diame…
We demonstrate for the first time controlled patterning by inducing nucleation of material from a dense aqueous dispersion or solution in an optical tweezers. A hot spot is formed on a glass surface by the trapping laser due to which a water vapor bubble is formed causing Gibbs-Marangoni convection of material around the bubble. This results in accretion of material around the bubble, which eventually nucleates into a crystalline state of the material. The nucleation site, when moved by translating the microscope stage of the optical tweezers apparatus, forms a pattern. We have demonstrated th…
Organic-inorganic hybrids may offer material properties not available from their inorganic components. However, they are typically less stable and disordered. Long-term stability study of the hybrid materials, over the anticipated lifespan of a real-world electronic device, is practically nonexistent. Disordering, prevalent in most nanostructure assemblies, is a prominent adversary to quantum coherence. A family of perfectly ordered II-VI based hybrid nanostructures has been shown to possess a number of unusual properties and potential applications. Here, using a prototype structure ZnTe(en)0.…
The zero-dimensional (0D) metal halides comprise periodically distributed and isolated metal-halide polyhedra, which act as the smallest inorganic quantum systems and can accommodate quasi-localized Frenkel excitons. These excitons exhibit unique photophysics including broadband photon emission, huge Stokes shift, and long decay lifetime. The polyhedra can have different symmetries due to the coordination degree of the metal ions. Little is known about how the polyhedron type affects the characteristics of the 0D metal halide crystals. We synthesize and comparatively study three novel kinds of…
The material class of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites has risen rapidly from a virtually unknown material in photovoltaic applications a short 7 years ago into a ~20% efficient thin-film solar cell material. As promising as this class of materials is, however, there are limitations associated with its poor long-term stability, non-optimal band gap, presence of environmentally-toxic Pb element, etc. We herein apply a functionality-directed theoretical materials selection approach as a filter for initial screening of the compounds that satisfy the desired intrinsic photovoltaic functionalit…
Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) are introducing new directions in the 2D materials landscape. The coexistence of ferroelectricity and spin-orbit interactions play a key role in their optoelectronic properties. We perform a detailed study on a recently synthesized ferroelectric 2D-HOIP, (AMP)PbI$_4$ (AMP = 4-aminomethyl-piperidinium). The calculated polarization and Rashba parameter are in excellent agreement with experimental values. We report a striking new effect, i.e., an extraordinarily large Rashba anisotropy that is tunable by ferroelectric polarization:…
New blends of simply synthesized quasi two-dimensional (quasi-2D) hydrophobic perovskite semiconductors, employed in high performance light emitting diodes (LEDs) which function due to excitonic energy transfer effects, are reported. These materials are self-assembled blends of 2D, quasi-2D and three-dimensional (3D) hybrid organic-inorganic semiconductors (HOIS). Moreover, shown for the first time, crude mixing of 3D perovskite and unprotonated amines provides similar semiconductors. HOIS reported here are based on the organic cations CH3NH3+, CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)8NH3+ or C6H5CH2CH2NH3+ and in…
Lead halide perovskite solar cells have recently emerged as a very promising photovoltaic technology due to their excellent power conversion efficiencies; however, the toxicity of lead and the poor stability of perovskite materials remain two main challenges that need to be addressed. Here, for the first time, we report a lead-free, highly stable C6H4NH2CuBr2I compound. The C6H4NH2CuBr2I films exhibit extraordinary hydrophobic behavior with a contact angle of approximately 90 degree, and their X-ray diffraction patterns remain unchanged even after four hours of water immersion. UV-Vis absorpti…
Organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells have attracted tremendous attention because of their remarkably high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). To further improve the device performance, however, it is imperative to obtain fundamental understandings on the photo-response and long-term stability down to the microscopic level. Here, we report the first quantitative nanoscale photoconductivity imaging on two methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3) thin films with different PCEs by light-stimulated microwave impedance microscopy. The intrinsic photo-response is largely uniform across grains and…
We report inelastic light scattering from underdamped plasmons in azetidinium lead bromide (AzPbBr3). The plasmons are very strongly temperature dependent and serve as a soft mode for the semiconductor-insulator phase transition near TC » 150 K, demonstrating a continuous decrease in hole concentration np(T) by at least a factor of four and implying a nearly tricritical transition. The plasmon frequency and linewidth agree with independent measurements, and the impedance analysis reveals a frequency dependence (modelled by a constant phase element, CPE) that can be identified as due to electro…
NEP89: Universal neuroevolution potential for inorganic and organic materials across 89 elements
Bohai University（渤海大学）；The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学）；Chalmers University of Technology（查尔姆斯理工大学）；Shenzhen Technology University（深圳职业技术大学）；Shenzhen University（深圳大学）；Xinyu University（新余学院）；University of Science and Technology Beijing（北京科技大学）
2D organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (2DHPs) consist of alternating anionic metal-halide and cationic organic layers. They have widely tunable structural and optical properties. We review the role of the organic cation in defining the structural and optical properties of 2DHPs through example lead iodide 2DHPs. Even though excitons reside in the metal halide layers, the organic and inorganic frameworks cannot be separated-they must be considered as a single unit to fully understand the photophysics of 2DHPs. We correlate cation-induced distortion and disorder in the inorganic lattice with t…
Inorganic-organic perovskites semiconductors are becoming increasingly interesting due to their remarkable optical properties, such as a high photoluminescence quantum yield and the possibility to show optical gain in a broad range of wavelengths. We have here simulated microcavities that embed MaPBI3 and 2D hybrid organic inorganic perovskite semiconductors by sandwiching such active layers between periodic, aperiodic and disordered photonic structures. We have carefully considered the refractive index dispersion of all the materials employed, such silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide and the pe…
Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) are new members of the 2D materials family with wide tunability, highly dynamic structural features and excellent physical properties. Ultrathin 2D HOIPs and their heterostructures with other 2D materials have been exploited for study of new physical phenomena and novel device applications. The in-plane mechanical properties of 2D ultrathin HOIPs are critical for understanding the coupling between mechanical and other physical fields and for integrated devices applications. Here we report for the first time the in-plane mechanic…
The computational prediction of the structure and stability of hybrid organic-inorganic interfaces provides important insights into the measurable properties of electronic thin film devices, coatings, and catalyst surfaces and plays an important role in their rational design. However, the rich diversity of molecular configurations and the important role of long-range interactions in such systems make it difficult to use machine learning (ML) potentials to facilitate structure exploration that otherwise require computationally expensive electronic structure calculations. We present an ML approa…
Perovskite solar cells have shown remarkable efficiencies beyond 22%, through organic and inorganic cation alloying. However, the role of alkali-metal cations is not well-understood. By using synchrotron-based nano-X-ray fluorescence and complementary measurements, we show that when adding RbI and/or CsI the halide distribution becomes homogenous. This homogenization translates into long-lived charge carrier decays, spatially homogenous carrier dynamics visualized by ultrafast microscopy, as well as improved photovoltaic device performance. We find that Rb and K phase-segregate in highly conce…
By combining complementary optical techniques, photoluminescence and time-resolved excited state absorption, we achieve a comprehensive picture of the relaxation processes in the organic/inorganic hybrid system SP6/ZnO. We identify two long-lived excited states of the organic molecules of which only the lowest energy one, localized on the sexiphenyl backbone of the molecule, is found to efficiently charge separate to the ZnO conduction band or radiatively recombine. The other state, most likely localized on the spiro-linked biphenyl, relaxes only by intersystem crossing to a long-lived, probab…
Excitonic insulators are long-sought-after quantum materials predicted to spontaneously open a gap by the Bose condensation of bound electron-hole pairs, namely, excitons, in their ground state. Since the theoretical conjecture, extensive efforts have been devoted to pursuing excitonic insulator platforms for exploring macroscopic quantum phenomena in real materials. Reliable evidences of excitonic character have been obtained in layered chalcogenides as promising candidates. However, owing to the interference of intrinsic lattice instabilities, it is still debatable whether those features, su…
