Coupling to octahedral tilts in halide perovskite nanocrystals induces phonon-mediated attractive interactions between excitons

Ultrafast Symmetry Control in Photoexcited Quantum Dots

Symmetry control is essential for realizing unconventional properties, such as ferroelectricity, nonlinear optical responses, and complex topological order, thus it holds promise for the design of emerging quantum and photonic systems. Nevertheless, fast and reversible control of symmetry in materials remains a challenge, especially for nanoscale systems. Here, reversible symmetry changes are unveiled in colloidal lead chalcogenide quantum dots on picosecond timescales. Using a combination of ultrafast electron diffraction and total X-ray scattering, in conjunction with atomic-scale structural modeling and first-principles calculations, it is revealed that symmetry-broken lead sulfide quantum dots restore to a centrosymmetric phase upon photoexcitation. The symmetry restoration is driven by photoexcited electronic carriers, which suppress lead off-centering for about 100 ps. Furthermore, the change in symmetry is closely correlated with the electronic properties, and the bandgap transiently red-shifts in the symmetry-restored quantum dots. Overall, this study elucidates reversible symmetry changes in colloidal quantum dots, and more broadly defines a new methodology to optically control symmetry in nanoscale systems on ultrafast timescales.

Robust excitonic light emission in 2D tin halide perovskites by weak excited state polaronic effect

2D perovskites hold immense promise in optoelectronics due to their strongly bound electron-hole pairs (i.e., excitons). While exciton polaron from interplay between exciton and lattice has been established in 2D lead-based perovskites, the exciton nature and behavior in the emerging 2D tin-based perovskites remains unclear. By combining spin-resolved ultrafast spectroscopy and sophisticated theoretical calculations, we reveal 2D tin-based perovskites as genuine excitonic semiconductors with weak polaronic screening effect and persistent Coulomb interaction, thanks to weak exciton-phonon coupling. We determine an excited state exciton binding energy of ~0.18 eV in n = 2 tin iodide perovskites, nearly twice of that in lead counterpart, despite of same large value of ~0.2 eV from steady state measurement. This finding emphasizes the pivotal role of excited state polaronic effect in these materials. The robust excitons in 2D tin-based perovskites exhibit excitation power-insensitive, high-efficiency and color-purity emission, rendering them superior for light-emitting applications.

Extreme Electron-Photon Interaction in Disordered Perovskites

The interaction of light with solids can be dramatically enhanced owing to electron-photon momentum matching. This mechanism manifests when light scattering from nanometer-sized clusters including a specific case of self-assembled nanostructures that form a long-range translational order but local disorder (crystal-liquid duality). In this paper, a new strategy based on both cases for the light-matter-interaction enhancement in a direct bandgap semiconductor - lead halide perovskite CsPbBr3 - by using electric pulse-driven structural disorder, is addressed. The disordered state allows the generation of confined photons, and the formation of an electronic continuum of static/dynamic defect states across the forbidden gap (Urbach bridge). Both mechanisms underlie photon-momentum-enabled electronic Raman scattering (ERS) and single-photon anti-Stokes photoluminescence (PL) under sub-band pump. PL/ERS blinking is discussed to be associated with thermal fluctuations of cross-linked [PbBr6]4- octahedra. Time-delayed synchronization of PL/ERS blinking causes enhanced spontaneous emission at room temperature. These findings indicate the role of photon momentum in enhanced light-matter interactions in disordered and nanostructured solids.

Fate of Optical Excitons in FAPbI3 Nanocube Superlattices

Understanding the nature of the photoexcitation and ultrafast charge dynamics pathways in organic halide perovskite nanocubes and their aggregation into superlattices is key for potential applications as tunable light emitters, photon-harvesting materials, and light-amplification systems. In this work, we apply two-dimensional coherent electronic spectroscopy (2DES) to track in real time the formation of near-infrared optical excitons and their ultrafast relaxation in CH(NH2)2PbI3 nanocube superlattices. Our results unveil that the coherent ultrafast dynamics is limited by the combination of the inherent short exciton decay time (≃40 fs) and the dephasing due to the coupling with selective optical phonon modes at higher temperatures. On the picosecond time scale, we observe the progressive formation of long-lived localized trap states. The analysis of the temperature dependence of the excitonic intrinsic line width, as extracted by the antidiagonal components of the 2D spectra, unveils a dramatic change of the excitonic coherence time across the cubic to tetragonal structural transition. Our results offer a new way to control and enhance the ultrafast coherent dynamics of photocarrier generation in hybrid halide perovskite synthetic solids.

Investigation of the Octahedral Network Structure in Formamidinium Lead Bromide Nanocrystals by Low-Dose Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy

Metal halide perovskites (MHP) are highly promising semiconductors. In this study, we focus on FAPbBr3 nanocrystals, which are of great interest for green light-emitting diodes. Structural parameters significantly impact the properties of MHPs and are linked to phase instability, which hampers long-term applications. Clearly, there is a need for local and precise characterization techniques at the atomic scale, such as transmission electron microscopy. Because of the high electron beam sensitivity of MHPs, these investigations are extremely challenging. Here, we applied a low-dose method based on four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy. We quantified the observed elongation of the projections of the Br atomic columns, suggesting an alternation in the position of the Br atoms perpendicular to the Pb-Br-Pb bonds. Together with molecular dynamics simulations, these results remarkably reveal local distortions in an on-average cubic structure. Additionally, this study provides an approach to prospectively investigating the fundamental degradation mechanisms of MHPs.

Breaking the size limitation of nonadiabatic molecular dynamics in condensed matter systems with local descriptor machine learning

Nonadiabatic molecular dynamics (NA-MD) is a powerful tool to model far-from-equilibrium processes, such as photochemical reactions and charge transport. NA-MD application to condensed phase has drawn tremendous attention recently for development of next-generation energy and optoelectronic materials. Studies of condensed matter allow one to employ efficient computational tools, such as density functional theory (DFT) and classical path approximation (CPA). Still, system size and simulation timescale are strongly limited by costly ab initio calculations of electronic energies, forces, and NA couplings. We resolve the limitations by developing a fully machine learning (ML) approach in which all the above properties are obtained using neural networks based on local descriptors. The ML models correlate the target properties for NA-MD, implemented with DFT and CPA, directly to the system structure. Trained on small systems, the neural networks are applied to large systems and long timescales, extending NA-MD capabilities by orders of magnitude. We demonstrate the approach with dependence of charge trapping and recombination on defect concentration in MoS2. Defects provide the main mechanism of charge losses, resulting in performance degradation. Charge trapping slows with decreasing defect concentration; however, recombination exhibits complex dependence, conditional on whether it occurs between free or trapped charges, and relative concentrations of carriers and defects. Delocalized shallow traps can become localized with increasing temperature, changing trapping and recombination behavior. Completely based on ML, the approach bridges the gap between theoretical models and realistic experimental conditions and enables NA-MD on thousand-atom systems and many nanoseconds.

Unprecedented Richness of Temperature- and Pressure-Induced Polymorphism in 1D Lead Iodide Perovskite

Inherent features of metal halide perovskites are their softness, complex lattice dynamics, and phase transitions spectacularly tuning their structures and properties. While the structural transformations are well described and classified in 3D perovskites, their 1D analogs are much less understood. Herein, both temperature- and pressure-dependent structural evolutions of a 1D AcaPbI3 perovskitoid incorporating acetamidinium (Aca) cation are examined. The study reveals the existence of nine phases of δ-AcaPbI3, which present the most diverse polymorphic collection among known perovskite materials. Interestingly, temperature- and pressure-triggered phase transitions in the 1D perovskotoid exhibit fundamentally different natures: the thermal transformations are mainly associated with the collective translations of rigid polyanionic units and ordering/disordering dynamics of Aca cations, while the compression primarily affects inorganic polymer chains. Moreover, in the 1-D chains featuring the face-sharing connection mode of the PbI6 octahedra the Pb···Pb distances are significantly shortened compared to the corner-sharing 3D perovskite frameworks, hence operating in the van der Waals territory. Strikingly, a good correlation is found between the Pb···Pb distances and the pressure evolution of the bandgap values in the δ-AcaPbI3, indicating that in 1D perovskitoid structures, the contacts between Pb2+ ions are one of the critical parameters determining their properties.

Electronic Structure of Biexcitons in Metal Halide Perovskite Nanoplatelets

A theoretical description of biexcitons in metal halide perovskite nanoplatelets is presented. The description is based on a variational effective mass model, including polaronic effects by means of a Haken potential. The strong quantum and dielectric confinements are shown to squeeze the biexciton under the polaronic radius, which greatly enhances Coulomb attractions and (to a lesser extent) repulsions. This explains the need for effective dielectric constants approaching the high-frequency limit in previous simulations, and the binding energies exceeding 40 meV observed in single-monolayer nanoplatelets. Biexcitons are formed by a pair of weakly interacting excitons, with a roughly rectangular geometry. This translates into a constant ratio between biexciton and exciton binding energies (2D Haynes rule) well below the ideal value of ΔBX/ΔX = 0.228 proposed for squared biexcitons. The ratio is independent of the number of monolayers in the platelet, but it does depend on the lateral and dielectric confinement.

Anisotropic Electron-Phonon Interactions in 2D Lead-Halide Perovskites

Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites offer enhanced stability for perovskite-based applications. Their crystal structure's soft and ionic nature gives rise to strong interaction between charge carriers and ionic rearrangements. Here, we investigate the interaction of photogenerated electrons and ionic polarizations in single-crystal 2D perovskite butylammonium lead iodide (BAPI), varying the inorganic lamellae thickness in the 2D single crystals. We determine the directionality of the transition dipole moments (TDMs) of the relevant phonon modes (in the 0.3-3 THz range) by the angle- and polarization-dependent THz transmission measurements. We find a clear anisotropy of the in-plane photoconductivity, with a ∼10% reduction along the axis parallel with the transition dipole moment of the most strongly coupled phonon. Detailed calculations, based on Feynman polaron theory, indicate that the anisotropy originates from directional electron-phonon interactions.

The Impact of Partial Carrier Confinement on Stimulated Emission in Strongly Confined Perovskite Nanocrystals

Semiconductor lead halide perovskites are excellent candidates for realizing low threshold light amplification due to their tunable and highly efficient luminescence, ease of processing, and strong light-matter interactions. However, most studies on optical gain have addressed bulk films, nanowires, or nanocrystals that exhibit little or no size quantization. Here, we show by means of a multitude of optical spectroscopy methods that small CsPbBr3 nanocrystals (NCs) exhibit a progressive red shift of the band-edge transition upon addition of electron-hole pairs, at least one carrier of which occupies a 2-fold degenerate, delocalized state in agreement with strong confinement. We demonstrate that this combination results in a threshold for biexciton gain, well below the limit of one electron-hole pair on average per NC. On the other hand, both the luminescent lifetime and the optical Stark effect of 4.7 nm CsPbBr3 NCs indicate that the oscillator strength of the band-edge transition is considerably smaller than expected from the band-edge absorption. We assign this discrepancy to a mixed confinement regime, with one delocalized and one localized charge carrier, and show that the concomitant reduction of the oscillator strength for stimulated emission accounts for the surprisingly small material gain observed in small NCs. The conclusion of mixed confinement aligns with studies reporting small and large polarons for holes and electrons in lead halide perovskite nanocrystals, respectively, and creates opportunities for understanding multiexciton photophysics in confined perovskite materials.

Organic Ligand Engineering for Tailoring Electron-Phonon Coupling in 2D Hybrid Perovskites

In the emerging two-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites, the electronic structures and carrier behaviors are strongly impacted by intrinsic electron-phonon interactions, which have received inadequate attention. In this study, we report an intriguing phenomenon of negative carrier diffusion induced by electron-phonon coupling in (2T)2PbI4. Theoretical calculations reveal that the electron-phonon coupling drives the band alignment in (2T)2PbI4 to alternate between type I and type II heterostructures. As a consequence, photoexcited holes undergo transitions between the organic ligands and inorganic layers, resulting in abnormal carrier transport behavior compared to other two-dimensional hybrid perovskites. These findings provide valuable insights into the role of electron-phonon coupling in shaping the band alignments and carrier behaviors in two-dimensional hybrid perovskites. They also open up exciting avenues for designing and fabricating functional semiconductor heterostructures with tailored properties.

A comparative review of time-resolved x-ray and electron scattering to probe structural dynamics

The structure of molecules, particularly the dynamic changes in structure, plays an essential role in understanding physical and chemical phenomena. Time-resolved (TR) scattering techniques serve as crucial experimental tools for studying structural dynamics, offering direct sensitivity to molecular structures through scattering signals. Over the past decade, the advent of x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) and mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV-UED) facilities has ushered TR scattering experiments into a new era, garnering significant attention. In this review, we delve into the basic principles of TR scattering experiments, especially focusing on those that employ x-rays and electrons. We highlight the variations in experimental conditions when employing x-rays vs electrons and discuss their complementarity. Additionally, cutting-edge XFELs and MeV-UED facilities for TR x-ray and electron scattering experiments and the experiments performed at those facilities are reviewed. As new facilities are constructed and existing ones undergo upgrades, the landscape for TR x-ray and electron scattering experiments is poised for further expansion. Through this review, we aim to facilitate the effective utilization of these emerging opportunities, assisting researchers in delving deeper into the intricate dynamics of molecular structures.

Crystal structures and photoluminescence characteristics of cesium lead bromide perovskite nanoplatelets depending on the antisolvent and ligand used in their syntheses

Cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) nanocrystals (NCs) with nanoplatelet shapes and different crystal structures were synthesized via the ligand-assisted reprecipitation (LARP) method using different pairs of ligands and antisolvents, namely oleic acid (OA) or linoleic acid (LA) as the ligand and toluene or chloroform as the antisolvent. The XRD data revealed that the obtained CsPbBr3 NCs have different crystal structures, namely orthorhombic, tetragonal, and cubic, depending on the ligand and antisolvent pair, which exhibited significantly different photoluminescence (PL) characteristics. From the XPS data, these CsPbBr3 nanoplatelets showed two doublet peaks of the Br-3d orbital at different binding energies, representing two different chemical environments of the Br bonds. The doublet peak apparent at a higher binding energy was associated with the Br chemical states at the crystal surface, which appeared because of the distorted crystal structure resulting from the interaction of the solvent and ligand with Br ions. The PL emission consists of three luminescence centers: a PL band peaked at 520 nm (A band), a PL band peaked at 540 nm (B band), and a PL band tail, which can be discussed in terms of exciton models. Stable and intense luminescence was observed in CsPbBr3 nanoplatelets synthesized using a pair of toluene antisolvent and LA ligand, namely CsPbBr3#(Tl/LA). The orthorhombic crystal structure and distorted crystal surface in this sample may lead to confinement of the photogenerated small exciton-polaron and weak phonon interactions, which effectively hinder exciton dissociation, particularly at the crystal surface, resulting in intense PL. The results of this study may provide additional important insights into the role of the antisolvent and ligand in the formation of CsPbBr3 NCs and the exciton behavior in their PL characteristics, which may also be found in other types of halide perovskites.