arXiv subjects

Alexander S. Urban

Publications and source records attributed to Alexander S. Urban.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Dark-Bright Exciton Splitting Dominates Low-Temperature Diffusion in Halide Perovskite Nanocrystal Assemblies

Semiconductor nanocrystals could replace conventional bulk materials completely in displays and light-emitting diodes. Exciton transport dominates over charge carrier transport for materials with high exciton binding energies and long ligands, such as halide perovskite nanocrystal films. Here, we investigate how beneficial superlattices - nearly perfect 3D nanocrystal assemblies of nanocrystals are to exciton transport. Surprisingly, the high degree of order is not as crucial as the individual nanocrystal size, which strongly influences the splitting of the excitonic manifold into bright and dark states. At very low temperatures, the energetic splitting is large for the smallest nanocrystals, and dark levels with low oscillator strength effectively trap excitons inside individual nanocrystals, suppressing diffusion. The effect is reversed at elevated temperatures, and the larger NC size becomes detrimental to exciton transport due to enhanced exciton trapping and dissociation. Our results reveal that the nanocrystal size must be strongly accounted for in design strategies of future optoelectronic applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Lead-free, luminescent perovskite nanocrystals obtained through ambient condition synthesis

Heterovalent substitution of toxic lead is an increasingly popular design strategy to obtain environmentally sustainable variants of the exciting material class of halide perovskites. Perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) obtained through solution-based methods exhibit exceedingly high optical quality. Unfortunately, most of these synthesis routes still require reaction under inert gas and at very high temperatures. Herein we present a novel synthesis routine for lead-free double perovskite NCs. We combine hot injection and ligand-assisted reprecipitation (LARP) methods to achieve a low-temperature and ambient atmosphere-based synthesis for manganese-doped Cs_{2}NaBiCl_{6} NCs. Mn incorporation is critical for the otherwise non-emissive material, with a 9:1 Bi:Mn precursor ratio maximizing the bright orange photoluminescence (PL) and quantum yield (QY). Higher temperatures slightly increased the material's performance, yet NCs synthesized at room temperature were still emissive, highlighting the versatility of the synthetic approach. Furthermore, the NCs show excellent long-term stability in ambient conditions, facilitating additional investigations and energy-related applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Machine-Learning-Optimized Perovskite Nanoplatelet Synthesis

With the demand for renewable energy and efficient devices rapidly increasing, a need arises to find and optimize novel (nano)materials. This can be an extremely tedious process, often relying significantly on trial and error. Machine learning has emerged recently as a powerful alternative; however, most approaches require a substantial amount of data points, i.e., syntheses. Here, we merge three machine-learning models with Bayesian Optimization and are able to dramatically improve the quality of CsPbBr3 nanoplatelets (NPLs) using only approximately 200 total syntheses. The algorithm can predict the resulting PL emission maxima of the NPL dispersions based on the precursor ratios, which lead to previously unobtainable 7 and 8 ML NPLs. Aided by heuristic knowledge, the algorithm should be easily applicable to other nanocrystal syntheses and significantly help to identify interesting compositions and rapidly improve their quality.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

Energy Transfer in Stability-Optimized Perovskite Nanocrystals

Outstanding optoelectronic properties and a facile synthesis render halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) a promising material for nanostructure-based devices. However, the commercialization is hindered mainly by the lack of NC stability under ambient conditions and inefficient charge carrier injection. Here, we investigate solutions to both problems, employing methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr_3) NCs encapsulated in diblock copolymer core-shell micelles of tunable size. We confirm that the shell does not prohibit energy transfer, as FRET efficiencies between these NCs and 2D CsPbBr_3 nanoplatelets (NPLs) reach 73.6%. This value strongly correlates to the micelle size, with thicker shells displaying significantly reduced FRET efficiencies. Those high efficiencies come with a price, as the thinnest shells protect the encapsulated NCs less from environmentally induced degradation. Finding the sweet spot between efficiency and protection could lead to the realization of tailored energy funnels with enhanced carrier densities for high-power perovskite NC-based optoelectronic applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Electron-Hole Binding Governs Carrier Transport in Halide Perovskite Nanocrystal Thin Films

Two-dimensional halide perovskite nanoplatelets (NPLs) have exceptional light-emitting properties, including wide spectral tunability, ultrafast radiative decays, high quantum yields (QY), and oriented emission. To realize efficient devices, it is imperative to understand how exciton transport progresses in NPL thin films. Due to the high binding energies of electron-hole pairs, excitons are generally considered the dominant species responsible for carrier transfer. We employ spatially and temporally resolved optical microscopy to map exciton diffusion in perovskite nanocrystal (NC) thin films between 15 °C and 50 °C. At room temperature (RT), we find the diffusion length to be inversely correlated to the thickness of the nanocrystals (NCs). With increasing temperatures, exciton diffusion declines for all NC films, but at different rates. This leads to specific temperature turnover points, at which thinner NPLs exhibit higher diffusion lengths. We attribute this anomalous diffusion behavior to the coexistence of excitons and free electron hole-pairs inside the individual NCs within our temperature range. The organic ligand shell surrounding the NCs prevents charge transfer. Accordingly, any time an electron-hole pair spends in the unbound state reduces the FRET-mediated inter-NC transfer rates and consequently the overall diffusion. These results clarify how exciton diffusion progresses in strongly confined halide perovskite NC films, emphasizing critical considerations for optoelectronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Dark and Bright Excitons in Halide Perovskite Nanoplatelets

Semiconductor nanoplatelets (NPLs), with their large exciton binding energy, narrow photoluminescence (PL), and absence of dielectric screening for photons emitted normal to the NPL surface, could be expected to become the fastest luminophores amongst all colloidal nanostructures. However, super-fast emission is suppressed by a dark (optically passive) exciton ground state, substantially split from a higher-lying bright (optically active) state. Here, the exciton fine structure in 2-8 monolayer (ML) thick Cs_{n-1}Pb_nBr_{3n+1} NPLs is revealed by merging temperature-resolved PL spectra and time-resolved PL decay with an effective mass modeling taking quantum confinement and dielectric confinement anisotropy into account. This approach exposes a thickness-dependent bright-dark exciton splitting reaching 32.3meV for the 2ML NPLs. The model also reveals a 5-16 meV splitting of the bright exciton states with transition dipoles polarized parallel and perpendicular to the NPL surfaces, the order of which is reversed for the thinnest NPLs, as confirmed by TR-PL measurements. Accordingly, the individual bright states must be taken into account, while the dark exciton state strongly affects the optical properties of the thinnest NPLs even at room temperature. Significantly, the derived model can be generalized for any isotropically or anisotropically confined nanostructure.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Metal Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals: Synthesis, Post-Synthesis Modifications and Their Optical Properties

Metal halide perovskites represent a flourishing area of research, driven by both their potential application in photo-voltaics and optoelectronics, and for the fundamental science underpinning their unique optoelectronic properties. The advent of colloidal methods for the synthesis of halide perovskite nanocrystals has brought to the attention inter-esting aspects of this new type of materials, above all their defect-tolerance. This review aims to provide an updated survey of this fast-moving field, with a main focus on their colloidal synthesis. We examine the chemistry and the ca-pability of different colloidal synthetic routes to control the shape, size and optical properties of the resulting nano-crystals. We also provide an up to date overview of their post-synthesis transformations, and summarize the various so-lution processes aimed at fabricating halide perovskite-based nanocomposites. We then review the fundamental optical properties of halide perovskite nanocrystals, by focusing on their linear optical properties, on the effects of quantum confinement and, then, on the current knowledge of their exciton binding energies. We also discuss the emergence of non-linear phenomena such as multiphoton absorption, biexcitons and carrier multiplication. At last, we provide an outlook in the field, with the most cogent open questions and possible future directions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Thickness-Dependence of Exciton-Exciton Annihilation in Halide Perovskite Nanoplatelets

Exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA) and Auger recombination are detrimental processes occurring in semiconductor optoelectronic devices at high carrier densities. Despite constituting one of the main obstacles for realizing lasing in semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), the dependencies on NC size are not fully understood, especially for those with both weakly and strongly confined dimensions. Here, we use differential transmission spectroscopy to investigate the dependence of EEA on the physical dimensions of thickness-controlled 2D halide perovskite nanoplatelets (NPls). We find the EEA lifetimes to be extremely short on the order of 7-60 ps. Moreover, they are strongly determined by the NPl thickness with a power-law dependence according to τ_2~d^5.3. Additional measurements show that the EEA lifetimes also increase for NPls with larger lateral dimensions. These results show that a precise control of the physical dimensions is critical for deciphering the fundamental laws governing the process especially in 1D and 2D NCs.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Nonradiative Energy Transfer between Thickness-Controlled Halide Perovskite Nanoplatelets

Despite showing great promise for optoelectronics, the commercialization of halide perovskite nanostructure-based devices is hampered by inefficient electrical excitation and strong exciton binding energies. While transport of excitons in an energy-tailored system via Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) could be an efficient alternative, halide ion migration makes the realization of cascaded structures difficult. Here, we show how these could be obtained by exploiting the pronounced quantum confinement effect in two dimensional CsPbBr3 based nanoplatelets (NPls). In thin films of NPls of two predetermined thicknesses, we observe an enhanced acceptor photoluminescence (PL) emission and a decreased donor PL lifetime. This indicates a FRET-mediated process, benefitted by the structural parameters of the NPls. We determine corresponding transfer rates up to k_FRET=0.99 ns^-1 and efficiencies of nearly η_FRET=70%. We also show FRET to occur between perovskite NPls of other thicknesses. Consequently, this strategy could lead to tailored, energy cascade nanostructures for improved optoelectronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Identifying and reducing interfacial losses to enhance color-pure electroluminescence in blue-emitting perovskite nanoplatelet light-emitting diodes

Perovskite nanoplatelets (NPls) hold great promise for light-emitting applications, having achieved high photoluminescence quantum efficiencies (PLQEs) approaching unity in the blue wavelength range, where other metal-halide perovskites have typically been ineffective. However, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of blue-emitting NPl light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have only reached 0.12%, with typical values well below 0.1%. In this work, we show that the performance of NPl LEDs is primarily hindered by a poor electronic interface between the emitter and hole-injector. Through Kelvin Probe and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements, we reveal that the NPls have remarkably deep ionization potentials (>=6.5 eV), leading to large barriers for hole injection, as well as substantial non-radiative decay at the interface between the emitter and hole-injector. We find that an effective way to reduce these non-radiative losses is by using poly(triarylamine) interlayers. This results in an increase in the EQE of our blue LEDs emitting at 464 nm wavelength to 0.3%. We find that our results can be generalized to thicker sky-blue-emitting NPls, where we increase the EQE to 0.55% using the poly(triarylamine) interlayer. Our work also identifies the key challenges for further efficiency increases.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Boosting tunable blue luminescence of halide perovskite nanoplatelets through post-synthetic surface trap repair

The easily tunable emission of halide perovskite nanocrystals throughout the visible spectrum makes them an extremely promising material for light-emitting applications. Whereas high quantum yields and long-term colloidal stability have already been achieved for nanocrystals emitting in the red and green spectral range, the blue region currently lags behind, with low quantum yields, broad emission profiles and insufficient colloidal stability. In this work, we present a facile synthetic approach for obtaining two-dimensional CsPbBr3 nanoplatelets with monolayer-precise control over their thickness, resulting in sharp photoluminescence and electroluminescence peaks with a tunable emission wavelength between 432 and 497 nm due to quantum confinement. Subsequent addition of a PbBr2-ligand solution repairs surface defects likely stemming from bromide and lead vacancies in a sub-ensemble of weakly emissive nanoplatelets. The overall photoluminescence quantum yield of the blue-emissive colloidal dispersions is consequently enhanced up to a value of 73+-2 %. Transient optical spectroscopy measurements focusing on the excitonic resonances further confirm the proposed repair process. Additionally, the high stability of these nanoplatelets in films and to prolonged UV light exposure is shown.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Accelerated Carrier Relaxation through Reduced Coulomb Screening in 2D Halide Perovskite Nanoplatelets

For high-speed optoelectronic applications relying on fast relaxation or energy transfer mechanisms, understanding of carrier relaxation and recombination dynamics is critical. Here, we compare the differences in photoexcited carrier dynamics in 2D and quasi-3D colloidal methylammonium lead iodide perovskite nanoplatelets via differential transmission spectroscopy. We find that the cooling of excited electron-hole pairs by phonon emission progresses much faster and is intensity-independent in the 2D-case. This is due to the low dielectric surrounding of the thin perovskite layers, for which the Fröhlich interaction is screened less efficiently leading to higher and less density dependent carrier-phonon scattering rates. In addition, rapid dissipation of heat into the surrounding occurs due to the high surface-to-volume ratio. Furthermore, we observe a sub-picosecond dissociation of resonantly excited 1s excitons in the quasi-3D case, an effect which is suppressed in the 2D nanoplatelets due to their large exciton binding energies. The results highlight the importance of the surrounding environment of the inorganic nanoplatelets on their relaxation dynamics. Moreover, this 2D material with relaxation times in the sub-picosecond regime shows great potential for realizing devices such as photodetectors or all-optical switches operating at THz frequencies.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Tuning the optical bandgap in hybrid layered perovskites through variation of alkyl chain length

Recently, layered hybrid perovskites have been attracting huge interest due to a wide range of possible chemical compositions and the resulting tunability of the materials properties. In this study, we investigate the effect of the chain length of the organic ligands on the optical properties of stacks of two dimensional perovskite layers consisting of alkylammonium lead iodide (CnH2n+1NH3)2PbI4 with n=4-18. Photoluminescence and absorption spectroscopy reveal a blueshift with increasing chain length n including a jump of 110 meV between the n=10 and n=12 ligands due to a change in octahedral tilting. Using Xray diffraction (XRD) we determine the crystal structure and find the octahedral tilting to be the main cause of this blueshift. However, for very short chain lengths additional effects further reduce the transition energy. Results of effective mass approximation model calculations show good agreement between the expected reduction of transition energy and measured photoluminescence emission wavelength for these samples. This highlights how octahedral tilting plays a major role in determining the optical bandgap and suggests that miniband formation plays only a minor role in this material.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Polymer Nanoreactors Shield Perovskite Nanocrystals from Degradation

Halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have shown impressive advances, exhibiting optical properties that outpace conventional semiconductor NCs, such as near-unity quantum yields and ultrafast radiative decay rates. Nevertheless, the NCs suffer even more from stability problems at ambient conditions and due to moisture than their bulk counterparts. Herein, we report a strategy of employing polymer micelles as nanoreactors for the synthesis of methylammonium lead trihalide perovskite NCs. Encapsulated by this polymer shell, the NCs display strong stability against water degradation and halide ion migration. Thin films comprising these NCs exhibit a more than 15-fold increase in lifespan in comparison to unprotected NCs in ambient conditions and even survive over 75 days of complete immersion in water. Furthermore, the NCs, which exhibit quantum yields of up to 63% and tunability of the emission wavelength throughout the visible range, show no signs of halide ion exchange. Additionally, heterostructures of MAPI and MAPBr NC layers exhibit efficient Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), revealing a strategy for optoelectronic integration.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗