Possible Topological Hall Effect above Room Temperature in Layered Cr1.2Te2 Ferromagnet.

Topological Hall effect (THE) has been used as a powerful tool to unlock spin chirality in novel magnetic materials. Recent focus has been widely paid to THE and possible chiral spin textures in two-dimensional (2D) layered magnetic materials. However, the room-temperature THE has been barely reported in 2D materials, which hinders its practical applications in 2D spintronics. In this paper, we report a possible THE signal featuring antisymmetric peaks in a wide temperature window up to 320 K in Cr1.2Te2, a new quasi-2D ferromagnetic material. The temperature, thickness, and magnetic field dependences of the THE lead to potential spin chirality origin that is associated with the spin canting under external magnetic fields. Our work holds promise for practical applications in future chiral spin-based vdW spintronic devices.

Large-Scale Ligand-Free Synthesis of Homogeneous Core-Shell Quantum-Dot-Modified Cs4PbBr6 Microcrystals.

An organic ligand-free solution method is developed for preparing homogeneous core-shell quantum-dot (QD)-modified pure Cs4PbBr6 microcrystals on a large scale (∼12 g) at room temperature. The ligand-free Cs4PbBr6 microcrystals show a high green photoluminescence quantum yield of 76% with 360 nm of excitation light, which is attributed to their unique microarchitecture, with several features including quantum confinement of the outer QDs, stability of the inner Cs4PbBr6 microcrystals, improved light trapping, and interfacial recombination. UV-vis-near-IR and photoluminescence analyses provide valued evidence to support the ligand-free Cs4PbBr6 with synergy between the QDs and microcrystals.

Effect of layer and stacking sequence in simultaneously grown 2H and 3R WS2 atomic layers.

In two-dimensional layered materials, layer number and stacking order have strong effects on the optical and electronic properties. Tungsten disulfide (WS2) crystal, as one important member among transition metal dichalcogenides, has been usually prepared in a layered 2H prototype structure with space group P63/mmc ([Formula: see text]) in spite of many other expected ones such as 3R. Here, we report simultaneous growth of 2H and 3R stacked multilayer (ML) WS2 crystals in large scale by chemical vapor deposition and effects of layer number and stacking order on optical and electronic properties. As revealed in Raman and photoluminescence (PL) measurements, with an increase in layer number, 2H and 3R stacked ML WS2 crystals show similar variation of PL and Raman peaks in position and intensity. Compared to 2H stacked ML WS2, however, 3R stacked one always exhibits the larger red (blue) shift of Raman [Formula: see text] (A1g) peak and the appearance of PL A, B and I peaks at lower energies. Thereby, PL and Raman features depend on not only layer number but also stacking order. In addition, circularly polarized luminescence from two prototype WS2 crystals under circularly polarized excitation has also been investigated, showing obvious spin or valley polarization of these CVD-grown multilayer WS2 crystals.

Microconcave MAPbBr3 Single Crystal for High-Performance Photodetector.

We present the first report of a new suspension method for obtaining cubic MAPbBr3 single crystal with a concave surface. The cubic MAPbBr3 crystal with microconcavity possesses good crystallinity and carrier lifetime. Excellent photoelectric performance was provided by the concavity-based MAPbBr3 photodetectors because of the good light trapping and shortened carrier pathway. As a result, the concavity-based photodetector exhibits superior responsivity of 62.9 and 5.43 A W-1 and EQE of 1.50 × 104% and 1.30 × 103% under low-power and high-power 520 nm irradiation of 3.67 µW cm-2 and 35.4 mW cm-2 at 3 V, respectively, which are more than 500% higher than those of the plane-based photodetector. In particular, the concavity-based photodetector has an ultrahigh detectivity of 6.5 × 1012 Jones at ultralow power of 3.67 µW cm-2, which is 6.5 times higher than that of the planar device.

Low-Temperature In Situ Amino Functionalization of TiO2 Nanoparticles Sharpens Electron Management Achieving over 21% Efficient Planar Perovskite Solar Cells.

Titanium oxide (TiO2 ) has been commonly used as an electron transport layer (ETL) of regular-structure perovskite solar cells (PSCs), and so far the reported PSC devices with power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) over 21% are mostly based on mesoporous structures containing an indispensable mesoporous TiO2 layer. However, a high temperature annealing (over 450 °C) treatment is mandatory, which is incompatible with low-cost fabrication and flexible devices. Herein, a facile one-step, low-temperature, nonhydrolytic approach to in situ synthesizing amino-functionalized TiO2 nanoparticles (abbreviated as NH2 -TiO2 NPs) is developed by chemical bonding of amino (-NH2 ) groups, via TiN bonds, onto the surface of TiO2 NPs. NH2 -TiO2 NPs are then incorporated as an efficient ETL in n-i-p planar heterojunction (PHJ) PSCs, affording PCE over 21%. Cs0.05 FA0.83 MA0.12 PbI2.55 Br0.45 (abbreviated as CsFAMA) PHJ PSC devices based on NH2 -TiO2 ETL exhibit the best PCE of 21.33%, which is significantly higher than that of the devices based on the pristine TiO2 ETL (19.82%) and is close to the record PCE for devices with similar structures and fabrication procedures. Besides, due to the passivation of the surface trap states of perovskite film, the hysteresis of current-voltage response is significantly suppressed, and the ambient stability of devices is improved upon amino functionalization.

Anchoring Fullerene onto Perovskite Film via Grafting Pyridine toward Enhanced Electron Transport in High-Efficiency Solar Cells.

Fullerene derivatives have been popularly applied as electron transport layers (ETLs) of inverted (p-i-n) planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells (iPSCs) due to their strong electron-accepting abilities, and so far, [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) has been the most commonly used ETL, which suffers, however, from high cost due to the complicated synthetic route. Herein, novel pyridine-functionalized fullerene derivatives (abbreviated as C60-Py) were synthesized facilely via a one-step 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction and applied as ETLs superior to PCBM in iPSC devices. Three pyridine-functionalized fullerene derivatives with different alkyl groups, including methyl, n-butyl, and n-hexyl, grafted onto the pyrrolidine moiety (abbreviated as C60-MPy, C60-BPy, and C60-HPy, respectively) were synthesized. According to cyclic voltammogram study, the chain length of the N-alkyl group has negligible influence on the molecular energy level of C60-Py. However, the ETL performance of C60-Py is sensitively dependent on the chain length of the N-alkyl group, with C60-BPy exhibiting the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.83%, which surpasses that based on PCBM ETL (15.87%). The PCE enhancement of C60-BPy device is attributed to the coordination interactions between the pyridine moiety with the Pb2+ ion of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite, which anchor C60-BPy onto perovskite film and reinforce the passivation of the trap state within the CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite film and suppress the nonradiative electron-hole recombinations, leading to enhanced electron transport reflected by the increase of short-circuit current density ( Jsc). The ambient stability of C60-HPy-based device is much better than that based on PCBM ETL since its long N-alkyl group can function as a superior encapsulating layer protecting the CH3NH3PbI3 layer from contact with the ambient moisture.

Phase Engineering of Perovskite Materials for High-Efficiency Solar Cells: Rapid Conversion of CH3NH3PbI3 to Phase-Pure CH3NH3PbCl3 via Hydrochloric Acid Vapor Annealing Post-Treatment.

Organometal halide CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) has been commonly used as the light absorber layer of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), and, especially, another halide element chlorine (Cl) has been often incorporated to assist the crystallization of perovskite film. However, in most cases, a predominant MAPbI3 phase with trace of Cl- is obtained ultimately and the role of Cl involvement remains unclear. Herein, we develop a low-cost and facile method, named hydrochloric acid vapor annealing (HAVA) post-treatment, and realize a rapid conversion of MAPbI3 to phase-pure MAPbCl3, demonstrating a new concept of phase engineering of perovskite materials toward efficiency enhancement of PSCs for the first time. The average grain size of perovskite film after HAVA post-treatment increases remarkably through an Ostwald ripening process, leading to a denser and smoother perovskite film with reduced trap states and enhanced crystallinity. More importantly, the generation of MAPbCl3 secondary phase via phase engineering is beneficial for improving the carrier mobility with a more balanced carrier transport rate and enlarging the band gap of perovskite film along with optimized energy level alignment. As a result, under the optimized HAVA post-treatment time (2 min), we achieved a significant enhancement of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the MAPbI3-based planar heterojunction-PSC device from 14.02 to 17.40% (the highest PCE reaches 18.45%) with greatly suppressed hysteresis of the current-voltage response.