Project description:Molecularly soft organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites are susceptible to dynamic instabilities of the lattice called octahedral tilt, which directly impacts their carrier transport and exciton-phonon coupling. Although the structural phase transitions associated with octahedral tilt has been extensively studied in 3D hybrid halide perovskites, its impact in hybrid 2D perovskites is not well understood. Here, we used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to directly visualize surface octahedral tilt in freshly exfoliated 2D Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites (RPPs) across the homologous series, whereby the steric hindrance imposed by long organic cations is unlocked by exfoliation. The experimentally determined octahedral tilts from n = 1 to n = 4 RPPs from STM images are found to agree very well with out-of-plane surface octahedral tilts predicted by density functional theory calculations. The surface-enhanced octahedral tilt is correlated to excitonic redshift observed in photoluminescence (PL), and it enhances inversion asymmetry normal to the direction of quantum well and promotes Rashba spin splitting for n > 1.
Project description:Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites are an interesting class of semi-conducting materials. One of their main advantages is the large freedom in the nature of the organic spacer molecules that separates the individual inorganic layers. The nature of the organic layer can significantly affect the structure and dynamics of the 2D material; however, there is currently no clear understanding of the effect of the organic component on the structural parameters. In this work, we have used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the structure and dynamics of a 2D Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite with a single inorganic layer (n = 1) and varying organic cations. We discuss the dynamic behavior of both the inorganic and the organic part of the materials as well as the interplay between the two and compare the different materials. We show that both aromaticity and the length of the flexible linker between the aromatic unit and the amide have a clear effect on the dynamics of both the organic and the inorganic part of the structures, highlighting the importance of the organic cation in the design of 2D perovskites.
Project description:Ultrathin inorganic halogenated perovskites have attracted attention owing to their excellent photoelectric properties. In this work, we designed two types of Ruddlesden-Popper hybrid perovskites, Csn+1SnnBr3n+1 and CsnSnn+1Br3n+2, and studied their band structures and band gaps as a function of the number of layers (n = 1-5). The calculation results show that Csn+1SnnBr3n+1 has a direct bandgap while the bandgap of CsnSnn+1Br3n+2 can be altered from indirect to direct, induced by the 5p-Sn state. As the layers increased from 1 to 5, the bandgap energies of Csn+1SnnBr3n+1 and CsnSnn+1Br3n+2 decreased from 1.209 to 0.797 eV and 1.310 to 1.013 eV, respectively. In addition, the optical absorption of Csn+1SnnBr3n+1 and CsnSnn+1Br3n+2 was blue-shifted as the structure changed from bulk to nanolayer. Compared with that of Csn+1SnnBr3n+1, the optical absorption of CsnSnn+1Br3n+2 was sensitive to the layers along the z direction, which exhibited anisotropy induced by the SnBr2-terminated surface.
Project description:Mixing bromine and iodine within lead halide perovskites is a common strategy to tune their optical properties. This comes at the cost of instability, as illumination induces halide segregation and degrades device performances. Hence, understanding the behavior of mixed-halide perovskites is crucial for applications. In 3D perovskites such as MAPb(Br x I1-x )3 (MA = methylammonium), all of the halide crystallographic sites are similar, and the consensus is that bromine and iodine are homogeneously distributed prior to illumination. By analogy, it is often assumed that Ruddlesden-Popper layered perovskites such as (BA)2MAPb2(Br x I1-x )7 (BA = butylammonium) behave alike. However, these materials possess a much wider variety of halide sites featuring diverse coordination environments, which might be preferentially occupied by either bromine or iodine. This leaves an open question: are mixed-halide Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites really mixed? By combining powder and single-crystal diffraction experiments, we demonstrate that this is not the case: bromine and iodine in RP perovskites preferentially occupy different sites, regardless of the crystallization speed.
Project description:Tailoring the organic spacing cations enables developing new Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) perovskites with tunable optoelectronic properties and superior stabilities. However, the formation of highly crystallized RP perovskites can be hindered when the structure of organic cations become complex. Strategies to regulate crystal growing process and grains quality remain to be explored. In this study, mixing Rb+ ions in precursor solution is reported to significantly promote the crystallinity of phenylethylammonium (PEA+) based RP perovskites without impacting on the major orientation of perovskite grains, which leads to increased power conversion efficiencies from 12.5% to 14.6%. It is found that the added Rb+ ions prefer to accumulate at crystal growing front and form Rb+ ions-rich region, which functions as mild crystal growth inhibitor to retard the absorption and diffusion of organic cations at growing front and hence regulates crystal growing rate. The retarded crystal growth benefits PEA-based RP perovskite films with elevated crystal qualities and prolonged carrier recombination lifetimes. Similar increased crystallinity and photovoltaic performance are achieved in other RP perovskites with non-linear organic cations such as phenylmethylammonium (PMA+), 1-(2-naphthyl)-methanammoniun (NMA+) by adding Rb+ ions, demonstrating using a small amount of growth inhibitor as a general route to regulate crystal growth.
Project description:A symmetry mode analysis yields 47 symmetrically distinct patterns of octahedral tilting in hybrid organic-inorganic layered perovskites that adopt the n = 1 Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) structure. The crystal structures of compounds belonging to this family are compared with the predictions of the symmetry analysis. Approximately 88% of the 140 unique structures have symmetries that agree with those expected based on octahedral tilting alone, while the remaining compounds have additional structural features that further lower the symmetry, such as asymmetric packing of bulky organic cations, distortions of metal-centered octahedra or a shift of the inorganic layers that deviates from the a/2 + b/2 shift associated with the RP structure. The structures of real compounds are heterogeneously distributed amongst the various tilt systems, with only 9 of the 47 tilt systems represented. No examples of in-phase ψ-tilts about the a and/or b axes of the undistorted parent structure were found, while at the other extreme ∼66% of the known structures possess a combination of out-of-phase φ-tilts about the a and/or b axes and θ-tilts (rotations) about the c axis. The latter combination leads to favorable hydrogen bonding interactions that accommodate the chemically inequivalent halide ions within the inorganic layers. In some compounds, primarily those that contain either Pb2+ or Sn2+, favorable hydrogen bonding interactions can also be achieved by distortions of the octahedra in combination with θ-tilts.
Project description:Lithium-oxide-halide and lithium-hydroxide-halide antiperovskites were explored for potential electrolytes in all-solid Li-ion batteries. A single-phase sample of the Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) series of compounds, LiBr(Li2OHBr)2 with double antiperovskite Li2OHBr layers and rigid rock-salt type LiBr layers, was obtained. Li+-ion vacancies are introduced in the double antiperovskite Li2OHBr layers but not in the LiBr layers and induce two-dimensional Li-ion conduction with low activation energy by mediating Li-ion hopping. In contrast to the Br-containing RP phase, Cl-containing Li-oxide-halide and Li-hydroxide-halide RP phases cannot be crystallized due to the structural mismatch between the antiperovskite layers and rigid LiCl layers.
Project description:Room-temperature spin-based electronics is the vision of spintronics. Presently, there are few suitable material systems. Herein, we reveal that solution-processed mixed-phase Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite thin-films transcend the challenges of phonon momentum-scattering that limits spin-transfer in conventional semiconductors. This highly disordered system exhibits a remarkable efficient ultrafast funneling of photoexcited spin-polarized excitons from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) phases at room temperature. We attribute this efficient exciton relaxation pathway towards the lower energy states to originate from the energy transfer mediated by intermediate states. This process bypasses the omnipresent phonon momentum-scattering in typical semiconductors with stringent band dispersion, which causes the loss of spin information during thermalization. Film engineering using graded 2D/3D perovskites allows unidirectional out-of-plane spin-funneling over a thickness of ~600 nm. Our findings reveal an intriguing family of solution-processed perovskites with extraordinary spin-preserving energy transport properties that could reinvigorate the concepts of spin-information transfer.
Project description:Ferroelasticity represents material domains possessing spontaneous strain that can be switched by external stress. Three-dimensional perovskites like methylammonium lead iodide are determined to be ferroelastic. Layered perovskites have been applied in optoelectronic devices with outstanding performance. However, the understanding of lattice strain and ferroelasticity in layered perovskites is still lacking. Here, using the in-situ observation of switching domains in layered perovskite single crystals under external strain, we discover the evidence of ferroelasticity in layered perovskites with layer number more than one, while the perovskites with single octahedra layer do not show ferroelasticity. Density functional theory calculation shows that ferroelasticity in layered perovskites originates from the distortion of inorganic octahedra resulting from the rotation of aspherical methylammonium cations. The absence of methylammonium cations in single layer perovskite accounts for the lack of ferroelasticity. These ferroelastic domains do not induce non-radiative recombination or reduce the photoluminescence quantum yield.
Project description:Two-dimensional metal halide perovskites of Ruddlesden-Popper type have recently moved into the centre of attention of perovskite research due to their potential for light generation and for stabilisation of their 3D counterparts. It has become widespread in the field to attribute broad luminescence with a large Stokes shift to self-trapped excitons, forming due to strong carrier-phonon interactions in these compounds. Contrarily, by investigating the behaviour of two types of lead-iodide based single crystals, we here highlight the extrinsic origin of their broad band emission. As shown by below-gap excitation, in-gap states in the crystal bulk are responsible for the broad emission. With this insight, we further the understanding of the emission properties of low-dimensional perovskites and question the generality of the attribution of broad band emission in metal halide perovskite and related compounds to self-trapped excitons.