1. |
- Qian, Deping, et al.
(author)
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Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells
- 2018
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In: Nature Materials. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 1476-1122 .- 1476-4660. ; 17:8, s. 703-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells is usually lower than the values achieved in inorganic or perovskite photovoltaic devices with comparable bandgaps. Energy losses during charge separation at the donor-acceptor interface and non-radiative recombination are among the main causes of such voltage losses. Here we combine spectroscopic and quantum-chemistry approaches to identify key rules for minimizing voltage losses: (1) a low energy offset between donor and acceptor molecular states and (2) high photoluminescence yield of the low-gap material in the blend. Following these rules, we present a range of existing and new donor-acceptor systems that combine efficient photocurrent generation with electroluminescence yield up to 0.03%, leading to non-radiative voltage losses as small as 0.21 V. This study provides a rationale to explain and further improve the performance of recently demonstrated high-open-circuit-voltage organic solar cells.
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2. |
- Ji, Fuxiang, et al.
(author)
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Near-Infrared Light-Responsive Cu-Doped Cs2AgBiBr6
- 2020
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In: Advanced Functional Materials. - : WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH. - 1616-301X .- 1616-3028. ; 30:51
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lead-free halide double perovskites (A(2)B(I)B(III)X(6)) with attractive optical and electronic features are considered to be a promising candidate to overcome the toxicity and stability issues of lead halide perovskites (APbX(3)). However, their poor absorption profiles limit device performance. Here the absorption band edge of Cs(2)AgBiBr(6)double perovskite to the near-infrared range is significantly broadened by developing doped double perovskites, Cs-2(Ag:Cu)BiBr6. The partial replacement of Ag ions by Cu ions in the crystal lattice is confirmed by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) measurements. Cu doping barely affects the bandgap of Cs2AgBiBr6; instead it introduces subbandgap states with strong absorption to the near-infrared range. More interestingly, the near-infrared absorption can generate band carriers upon excitation, as indicated by the photoconductivity measurement. This work sheds new light on the absorption modulation of halide double perovskites for future efficient optoelectronic devices.
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3. |
- Ji, Fuxiang, 1991-, et al.
(author)
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Remarkable Thermochromism in the Double Perovskite Cs2NaFeCl6
- 2023
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In: Advanced Optical Materials. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 2162-7568 .- 2195-1071.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lead-free halide double perovskites (HDPs) have emerged as a new generation of thermochromic materials. However, further materials development and mechanistic understanding are required. Here, a highly stable HDP Cs2NaFeCl6 single crystal is synthesized, and its remarkable and fully reversible thermochromism with a wide color variation from light-yellow to black over a temperature range of 10 to 423 K is investigated. First-principles, density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations indicate that the thermochromism in Cs2NaFeCl6 is an effect of electron–phonon coupling. The temperature sensitivity of the bandgap in Cs2NaFeCl6 is up to 2.52 meVK−1 based on the Varshni equation, which is significantly higher than that of lead halide perovskites and many conventional group-IV, III–V semiconductors. Meanwhile, this material shows excellent environmental, thermal, and thermochromic cycle stability. This work provides valuable insights into HDPs' thermochromism and sheds new light on developing efficient thermochromic materials.
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4. |
- Ji, Fuxiang, 1991-, et al.
(author)
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Remarkable Thermochromism in the Double Perovskite Cs2NaFeCl6
- 2024
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In: Advanced Optical Materials. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2162-7568 .- 2195-1071. ; 12:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lead-free halide double perovskites (HDPs) have emerged as a new generation of thermochromic materials. However, further materials development and mechanistic understanding are required. Here, a highly stable HDP Cs2NaFeCl6 single crystal is synthesized, and its remarkable and fully reversible thermochromism with a wide color variation from light-yellow to black over a temperature range of 10 to 423 K is investigated. First-principles, density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations indicate that the thermochromism in Cs2NaFeCl6 is an effect of electron-phonon coupling. The temperature sensitivity of the bandgap in Cs2NaFeCl6 is up to 2.52 meVK(-1) based on the Varshni equation, which is significantly higher than that of lead halide perovskites and many conventional group-IV, III-V semiconductors. Meanwhile, this material shows excellent environmental, thermal, and thermochromic cycle stability. This work provides valuable insights into HDPs' thermochromism and sheds new light on developing efficient thermochromic materials.
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5. |
- Liu, Han, et al.
(author)
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A Chromosome-Level Assembly of Blunt Snout Bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) Genome Reveals an Expansion of Olfactory Receptor Genes in Freshwater Fish
- 2021
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In: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press. - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 38:10, s. 4238-4251
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The number of olfactory receptor genes (ORs), which are responsible for detecting diverse odor molecules varies extensively among mammals as a result of frequent gene gains and losses that contribute to olfactory specialization. However, how OR expansions/contractions in fish are influenced by habitat and feeding habit and which OR subfamilies are important in each ecological niche is unknown. Here, we report a major OR expansion in a freshwater herbivorous fish, Megalobrama amblycephala, using a highly contiguous, chromosome-level assembly. We evaluate the possible contribution of OR expansion to habitat and feeding specialization by comparing the OR repertoire in 28 phylogenetically and ecologically diverse teleosts. In total, we analyzed > 4,000 ORs including 3,253 intact, 122 truncated, and 913 pseudogenes. The number of intact ORs is highly variable ranging from 20 to 279. We estimate that the most recent common ancestor of Osteichthyes had 62 intact ORs, which declined in most lineages except the freshwater Otophysa clade that has a substantial expansion in subfamily beta and epsilon ORs. Across teleosts, we found a strong association between duplications of beta and epsilon ORs and freshwater habitat. Nearly, all ORs were expressed in the olfactory epithelium (OE) in three tested fish species. Specifically, all the expanded beta and epsilon ORs were highly expressed in OE of M. amblycephala. Together, we provide molecular and functional evidence for how OR repertoires in fish have undergone gain and loss with respect to ecological factors and highlight the role of beta and epsilon OR in freshwater adaptation.
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6. |
- Liu, Tiefeng, et al.
(author)
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Ground-state electron transfer in all-polymer donor:acceptor blends enables aqueous processing of water-insoluble conjugated polymers
- 2023
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In: Nature Communications. - : NATURE PORTFOLIO. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Water-based conductive inks are vital for the sustainable manufacturing and widespread adoption of organic electronic devices. Traditional methods to produce waterborne conductive polymers involve modifying their backbone with hydrophilic side chains or using surfactants to form and stabilize aqueous nanoparticle dispersions. However, these chemical approaches are not always feasible and can lead to poor material/device performance. Here, we demonstrate that ground-state electron transfer (GSET) between donor and acceptor polymers allows the processing of water-insoluble polymers from water. This approach enables macromolecular charge-transfer salts with 10,000x higher electrical conductivities than pristine polymers, low work function, and excellent thermal/solvent stability. These waterborne conductive films have technological implications for realizing high-performance organic solar cells, with efficiency and stability superior to conventional metal oxide electron transport layers, and organic electrochemical neurons with biorealistic firing frequency. Our findings demonstrate that GSET offers a promising avenue to develop water-based conductive inks for various applications in organic electronics. Chemical approaches to improve aqueous dispersions of conjugated polymers are limited by the feasibility of modifying the backbone or lead to poor performance. Here, Liu et al. show that ground-state electron transfer in donor:acceptor blends aids aqueous dispersion, for high conductivity and solubility.
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7. |
- Mopoung, Kunpot, et al.
(author)
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Understanding Antiferromagnetic Coupling in Lead-Free Halide Double Perovskite Semiconductors
- 2024
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In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 128:12, s. 5313-5320
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Solution-processable semiconductors with antiferromagnetic (AFM) order are attractive for future spintronics and information storage technology. Halide perovskites containing magnetic ions have emerged as multifunctional materials, demonstrating a cross-link between structural, optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. However, stable optoelectronic halide perovskites that are antiferromagnetic remain sparse, and the critical design rules to optimize magnetic coupling still must be developed. Here, we combine the complementary magnetometry and electron-spin-resonance experiments, together with first-principles calculations to study the antiferromagnetic coupling in stable Cs-2(Ag:Na)FeCl6 bulk semiconductor alloys grown by the hydrothermal method. We show the importance of nonmagnetic monovalence ions at the B-I site (Na/Ag) in facilitating the superexchange interaction via orbital hybridization, offering the tunability of the Curie-Weiss parameters between -27 and -210 K, with a potential to promote magnetic frustration via alloying the nonmagnetic B-I site (Ag:Na ratio). Combining our experimental evidence with first-principles calculations, we draw a cohesive picture of the material design for B-site-ordered antiferromagnetic halide double perovskites.
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8. |
- Ning, Weihua, et al.
(author)
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Magnetizing lead-free halide double perovskites
- 2020
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In: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science. - 2375-2548. ; 6:45
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Spintronics holds great potential for next-generation high-speed and low-power consumption information technology. Recently, lead halide perovskites (LHPs), which have gained great success in optoelectronics, also show interesting magnetic properties. However, the spin-related properties in LHPs originate from the spin-orbit coupling of Pb, limiting further development of these materials in spintronics. Here, we demonstrate a new generation of halide perovskites, by alloying magnetic elements into optoelectronic double perovskites, which provide rich chemical and structural diversities to host different magnetic elements. In our iron-alloyed double perovskite, Cs2Ag(Bi:Fe)Br-6, Fe3+ replaces Bi3+ and forms FeBr6 clusters that homogenously distribute throughout the double perovskite crystals. We observe a strong temperature-dependent magnetic response at temperatures below 30 K, which is tentatively attributed to a weak ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic response from localized regions. We anticipate that this work will stimulate future efforts in exploring this simple yet efficient approach to develop new spintronic materials based on lead-free double perovskites.
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9. |
- Puttisong, Yuttapoom, et al.
(author)
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Charge Generation via Relaxed Charge-Transfer States in Organic Photovoltaics by an Energy-Disorder-Driven Entropy Gain
- 2018
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In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 122:24, s. 12640-12646
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In organic photovoltaics, efficient charge generation relies on our ability to convert excitons into free charges. Efficient charge separation from "energetic excitons" has been understood to be governed by delocalization effects promoted by molecular aggregation. A remaining puzzle is, however, the mechanism underlying charge generation via relaxed interfacial charge-transfer (CT) excitons that also exhibit an internal quantum efficiency close to unity. Here, we provide evidence for efficient charge generation via CT state absorption over a temperature range of 50-300 K, despite an intrinsically strong Coulomb binding energy of about 400 meV that cannot be modified by fullerene aggregation. We explain our observation by entropy-driven charge separation, with a key contribution from energy disorder. The energy disorder reduces the charge generation barrier by substantially gaining the entropy as electron hole distance increases, resulting in efficient CT exciton dissociation. Our results underline an emerging consideration of energy disorder in thermodynamic stability of charge pairs and highlight the energy disorder as a dominant factor for generating charges via the CT state. A discussion for a trade-off in harvesting charges from relaxed CT excitons is also provided.
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10. |
- Puttisong, Yuttapoom, et al.
(author)
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Effect of Crystal Symmetry on the Spin States of Fe3+ and Vibration Modes in Lead-free Double-Perovskite Cs2AgBi(Fe)Br-6
- 2020
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In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 1948-7185. ; 11:12, s. 4873-4878
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We show by electron spin resonance (ESR) and Raman spectroscopies that the crystal phase transition of the lead-free double-perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6 has a profound symmetry-breaking effect on the high spin states of, for example, a transition-metal ion Fe3+ and the vibrational modes. It lifts their degeneracy when the crystal undergoes the cubic-tetragonal phase transition, splitting the six-fold degenerate S = 5/2 state of Fe3+ to three Kramer doublets and the enharmonic breathing mode T-g of the MBr6 octahedra (M = Ag, Bi, Fe) into E-g + A(g). The magnitudes of both spin and Raman line splitting are shown to directly correlate with the strength of the tetragonal strain field. This work, in turn, demonstrates the power of the ESR and Raman spectroscopies in probing structural phase transitions and in providing in-depth information on the interplay between the structural, spin, and vibrational properties of lead-free double perovskites, a newly emerging and promising class of materials for low-cost and high-efficiency photovoltaics and optoelectronics.
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