No Arabic abstract
Designing molecular organic semiconductors with distinct frontier orbitals is key for the development of devices with desirable properties. Generating defined organic nanostructures with atomic precision can be accomplished by on-surface synthesis. We use this dry chemistry to introduce topological variations in a conjugated poly-para-phenylene chain in the form of meta-junctions. As evidenced by STM and LEED, we produce a macroscopically ordered, monolayer thin zigzag chain film on a vicinal silver crystal. These cross-conjugated nanostructures are expected to display altered electronic properties, which are now unravelled by highly complementary experimental techniques (ARPES and STS) and theoretical calculations (DFT and EPWE). We find that meta-junctions dominate the weakly dispersive band structure, while the bandgap is tunable by altering the linear segments length. These periodic topology effects induce significant loss of the electronic coupling between neighboring linear segments leading to partial electron confinement in the form of weakly coupled Quantum Dots. Such periodic quantum interference effects determine the overall semiconducting character and functionality of the chains.
We explore the charge transport mechanism in organic semiconductors based on a model that accounts for the thermal intermolecular disorder at work in pure crystalline compounds, as well as extrinsic sources of disorder that are present in current experimental devices. Starting from the Kubo formula, we develop a theoretical framework that relates the time-dependent quantum dynamics of electrons to the frequency-dependent conductivity. The electron mobility is then calculated through a relaxation time approximation that accounts for quantum localization corrections beyond Boltzmann theory, and allows us to efficiently address the interplay between highly conducting states in the band range and localized states induced by disorder in the band tails. The emergence of a transient localization phenomenon is shown to be a general feature of organic semiconductors, that is compatible with the bandlike temperature dependence of the mobility observed in pure compounds. Carrier trapping by extrinsic disorder causes a crossover to a thermally activated behavior at low temperature, which is progressively suppressed upon increasing the carrier concentration, as is commonly observed in organic field-effect transistors. Our results establish a direct connection between the localization of the electronic states and their conductive properties, formalizing phenomenological considerations that are commonly used in the literature.
We study the electronic structure of the quasi-one-dimensional organic conductor TTF-TCNQ by means of density-functional band theory, Hubbard model calculations, and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES). The experimental spectra reveal significant quantitative and qualitative discrepancies to band theory. We demonstrate that the dispersive behavior as well as the temperature-dependence of the spectra can be consistently explained by the finite-energy physics of the one-dimensional Hubbard model at metallic doping. The model description can even be made quantitative, if one accounts for an enhanced hopping integral at the surface, most likely caused by a relaxation of the topmost molecular layer. Within this interpretation the ARPES data provide spectroscopic evidence for the existence of spin-charge separation on an energy scale of the conduction band width. The failure of the one-dimensional Hubbard model for the {it low-energy} spectral behavior is attributed to interchain coupling and the additional effect of electron-phonon interaction.
The electronic wavefunctions of an atom or molecule are affected by its interactions with its environment. These interactions dictate electronic and optical processes at interfaces, and is especially relevant in the case of thin film optoelectronic devices such as organic solar cells. In these devices, charge transport and interfaces between multiple layers occur along the thickness or vertical direction, and thus such electronic interactions are crucial in determining the device properties. Here, we introduce a new in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry data analysis method called DART with the ability to directly probe electronic coupling due to intermolecular interactions along the thickness direction using vacuum-deposited organic semiconductor thin films as a model system. The analysis, which does not require any model fitting, reveals direct observations of electronic coupling between frontier orbitals under optical excitations leading to delocalization of the corresponding electronic wavefunctions with thickness or, equivalently, number of molecules away from the interface in C60 and MeO-TPD deposited on an insulating substrate (SiO2). Applying the same methodology for C60 deposited on phthalocyanine thin films, the analyses shows strong, anomalous features - in comparison to C60 deposited on SiO2 - of the electronic wavefunctions corresponding to specific excitation energies in C60 and phthalocyanines. Translation of such interactions in terms of dielectric constants reveals plasmonic type resonance absorptions resulting from oscillations of the excited state wavefunctions between the two materials across the interface. Finally, reproducibility, angstrom-level sensitivity and simplicity of the method are highlighted showcasing its applicability for studying electronic coupling between any vapor-deposited material systems where real-time measurements during deposition are possible.
We report a theoretical description and experimental implementation of a novel two-dimensional coherent excitation spectroscopy based on quasi-steady-state photoinduced absorption measurement of a long-lived nonlinear population. We have studied a semiconductor-polymer:fullerene-derivative distributed heterostructure by measuring the 2D excitation spectrum by means of photoluminescence, photocurrent and photoinduced absorption from metastable polaronic products. We conclude that the photoinduced absorption probe is a viable and valuable probe in this family of 2D coherent spectroscopies.
The anisotropic nature of the new two-dimensional (2D) material phosphorene, in contrast to other 2D materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors, allows excitons to be confined in a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) space predicted in theory, leading to remarkable phenomena arising from the reduced dimensionality and screening. Here, we report a trion (charged exciton) binding energy of 190 meV in few-layer phosphorene at room temperature, which is nearly one to two orders of magnitude larger than those in 2D TMD semiconductors (20-30 meV) and quasi-2D quantum wells (1-5 meV). Such a large binding energy has only been observed in truly 1D materials such as carbon nanotubes, whose optoelectronic applications have been severely hurdled by their intrinsically small optical cross-sections. Phosphorene offers an elegant way to overcome this hurdle by enabling quasi-1D excitonic and trionic behaviors in a large 2D area, allowing optoelectronic integration. We experimentally validated the quasi-1D nature of excitonic and trionic dynamics in phospherene by demonstrating completely linearly polarized light emission from excitons and trions. The implications of the extraordinarily large trion binding energy in a higher-than-one-dimensional material are far-reaching. It provides a room-temperature 2D platform to observe the fundamental many-body interactions in the quasi-1D region. The strong photoluminescence emission in phosphorene has been electrically tuned over a large spectral range at room temperature, which opens a new route for tunable light sources.