No Arabic abstract
Methylammonium lead iodide (MAPI) is the archetype of the intensively researched class of perovskites for photovoltaics. Nonetheless, even equilibrium aspects are far from being fully understood. Here we discuss equilibrium space charge effects at the MAPI/TiO2 and MAPI/Al2O3 interfaces, which are of paramount significance for solar cells. Different from the photovoltaic literature in which such built-in potentials are considered as being generated solely by electronic charge carriers, we will apply a generalized picture that considers the equilibrium distribution of both ionic and electronic carriers. We give experimental evidences that it is the ions that are responsible for the equilibrium space charge potential in MAPI, the reason being a pronounced ion adsorption at the contacts. The occurrence of equilibrium space charge effects generated by ionic redistribution has not been considered for photovoltaic materials and as such provides a novel path for modifying charge-selective interfaces in solar cells, as well as a better understanding of the behavior in mesoporous systems.
Semiconducting polycrystalline thin films are cheap to produce and can be deposited on flexible substrates, yet high-performance electronic devices usually utilize single-crystal semiconductors, owing to their superior electrical mobilities and longer diffusion lengths. Here we show that the electrical performance of polycrystalline films of metal-halide perovskites (MHPs) approaches that of single crystals at room temperature. Combining temperature-dependent terahertz conductivity measurements and ab initio calculations we uncover a complete picture of the origins of charge scattering in single crystals and polycrystalline films of CH$_3$NH$_3$PbI$_3$. We show that Frohlich scattering of charge carriers with multiple phonon modes is the dominant mechanism limiting mobility, with grain-boundary scattering further reducing mobility in polycrystalline films. We reconcile the large discrepancy in charge diffusion lengths between single crystals and films by considering photon reabsorption. Thus, polycrystalline films of MHPs offer great promise for devices beyond solar cells, including transistors and modulators.
Many optoelectronic properties have been reported for lead halide perovskite polycrystalline films. However, ambiguities in the evaluation of these properties remain, especially for long-range lateral charge transport, where ionic conduction can complicate interpretation of data. Here we demonstrate a new technique to measure the long-range charge carrier mobility in such materials. We combine quasi-steady-state photo-conductivity measurements (electrical probe) with photo-induced transmission and reflection measurements (optical probe) to simultaneously evaluate the conductivity and charge carrier density. With this knowledge we determine the lateral mobility to be ~ 2 cm2/Vs for CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) polycrystalline perovskite films prepared from the acetonitrile/methylamine solvent system. Furthermore, we present significant differences in long-range charge carrier mobilities, from 2.2 to 0.2 cm2/Vs, between films of contemporary perovskite compositions prepared via different fabrication processes, including solution and vapour phase deposition techniques. Arguably, our work provides the first accurate evaluation of the long-range lateral charge carrier mobility in lead halide perovskite films, with charge carrier density in the range typically achieved under photovoltaic operation.
The relaxation of high-energy hot carriers in semiconductors is known to involve the redistribution of energy between (i) hot and cold carriers and (ii) hot carriers and phonons. Over the past few years, these two processes have been identified in lead-halide perovskites (LHPs) using ultrafast pump-probe experiments, but the interplay between these processes is not fully understood. Here we present a comprehensive kinetic model to elucidate the individual effects of the hot and cold carriers in bulk and nanocrystal $CsPbBr_{3}$ films obtained from pump-push-probe measurements. In accordance with our previous work, we observe that the cooling dynamics in the materials decelerate as the number of hot carriers increases, which we explain through a hot-phonon bottleneck mechanism. On the other hand, as the number of cold carriers increases, we observe an acceleration of the cooling kinetics in the samples. We describe the interplay of these opposing effects using our model, and by using series of natural approximations, reduce this model to a simple form containing terms for the carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon interactions. The model can be instrumental for evaluating the details of carrier cooling and electron-phonon couplings in a broad range of LHP optoelectronic materials.
Solution-processed lead halide perovskites have shown very bright future in both solar cells and microlasers. Very recently, the nonlinearity of perovskites started to attract considerable research attention. Second harmonic generation and two-photon absorption have been successfully demonstrated. However, the nonlinearity based perovskite devices such as micro- & nano- lasers are still absent. Here we demonstrate the two-photon pumped nanolasers from perovskite nanowires. The CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite nanowires were synthesized with one-step solution self-assembly method and dispersed on glass substrate. Under the optical excitation at 800 nm, two-photon pumped lasing actions with periodic peaks have been successfully observed at around 546 nm. The obtained quality (Q) factors of two-photon pumped nanolasers are around 960, and the corresponding thresholds are about 674?J=cm2. Both the Q factors and thresholds are comparable to conventional whispering gallery modes in two-dimensional polygon microplates. Our researches are the first demonstrations of two-photon pumped nanolasers in perovskite nanowires. We believe our finding will significantly expand the application of perovskite in low-cost nonlinear optical devices such as optical limiting, optical switch, and biomedical imaging et al.
An ensemble of emitters can behave significantly different from its individual constituents when interacting coherently via a common light field. After excitation, collective coupling gives rise to an intriguing many-body quantum phenomenon, resulting in short, intense bursts of light: so-called superfluorescence. Because it requires a fine balance of interaction between the emitters and their decoupling from the environment, together with close identity of the individual emitters, superfluorescence has thus far been observed only in a limited number of systems, such as atomic and molecular gases and semiconductor crystals, and could not be harnessed for applications. For colloidal nanocrystals, however, which are of increasing relevance in a number of opto-electronic applications, the generation of superfluorescent light was precluded by inhomogeneous emission broadening, low oscillator strength, and fast exciton dephasing. Using caesium lead halide (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br) perovskite nanocrystals that are self-organized into highly ordered three-dimensional superlattices allows us to observe key signatures of superfluorescence: red-shifted emission with more than ten-fold accelerated radiative decay, extension of the first-order coherence time by more than a factor of four, photon bunching, and delayed emission pulses with Burnham-Chiao ringing behaviour at high excitation density. These mesoscopically extended coherent states can be employed to boost opto-electronic device performances and enable entangled multi-photon quantum light sources.