High Photoluminescence Quantum Yield in Band Gap Tunable Bromide Containing Mixed Halide Perovskites

Recombination Kinetics and Effects of Superacid Treatment in Sulfur- and Selenium-Based Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Optoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials have shown tremendous promise over the past few years; however, there are still numerous challenges that need to be overcome to enable their application in devices. These include improving their poor photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) as well as better understanding of exciton-based recombination kinetics. Recently, we developed a chemical treatment technique using an organic superacid, bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide (TFSI), which was shown to improve the quantum yield in MoS2 from less than 1% to over 95%. Here, we perform detailed steady-state and transient optical characterization on some of the most heavily studied direct bandgap 2D materials, specifically WS2, MoS2, WSe2, and MoSe2, over a large pump dynamic range to study the recombination mechanisms present in these materials. We then explore the effects of TFSI treatment on the PL QY and recombination kinetics for each case. Our results suggest that sulfur-based 2D materials are amenable to repair/passivation by TFSI, while the mechanism is thus far ineffective on selenium based systems. We also show that biexcitonic recombination is the dominant nonradiative pathway in these materials and that the kinetics for TFSI treated MoS2 and WS2 can be described using a simple two parameter model.

Spatially Non-uniform Trap State Densities in Solution-Processed Hybrid Perovskite Thin Films

The facile solution-processability of methylammonium lead halide (CH3NH3PbI3) perovskites has catalyzed the development of inexpensive, hybrid perovskite-based optoelectronics. It is apparent, though, that solution-processed CH3NH3PbI3 films possess local emission heterogeneities, stemming from electronic disorder in the material. Herein we investigate the spatially resolved emission properties of CH3NH3PbI3 thin films through detailed emission intensity versus excitation intensity measurements. These studies enable us to establish the existence of nonuniform trap density variations wherein regions of CH3NH3PbI3 films exhibit effective free carrier recombination while others exhibit emission dynamics strongly influenced by the presence of trap states. Such trap density variations lead to spatially varying emission quantum yields and correspondingly impact the performance of both methylammonium lead halide perovskite solar cells and other hybrid perovskite-based devices. Of additional note is that the observed spatial extent of the optical disorder extends over length scales greater than that of underlying crystalline domains, suggesting the existence of other factors, beyond grain boundary-related nonradiative recombination channels, which lead to significant intrafilm optical heterogeneities.

Methodologies for high efficiency perovskite solar cells

Since the report on long-term durable solid-state perovskite solar cell in 2012, perovskite solar cells based on lead halide perovskites having organic cations such as methylammonium CH₃NH₃PbI₃ or formamidinium HC(NH₂)₂PbI₃ have received great attention because of superb photovoltaic performance with power conversion efficiency exceeding 22 %. In this review, emergence of perovskite solar cell is briefly introduced. Since understanding fundamentals of light absorbers is directly related to their photovoltaic performance, opto-electronic properties of organo lead halide perovskites are investigated in order to provide insight into design of higher efficiency perovskite solar cells. Since the conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cell is found to depend significantly on perovskite film quality, methodologies for fabricating high quality perovskite films are particularly emphasized, including various solution-processes and vacuum deposition method.

Interplay of structural and compositional effects on carrier recombination in mixed-halide perovskites

We investigate the effect of grain structure and bromide content on charge transport in methylammonium lead iodide/bromide perovskites by probing the steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence of planar films with distinct morphologies.