Fast-Response, Highly Air-Stable, and Water-Resistant Organic Photodetectors Based on a Single-Crystal Pt Complex.

Organic semiconductors demonstrate several advantages over conventional inorganic materials for novel electronic and optoelectronic applications, including molecularly tunable properties, flexibility, low-cost, and facile device integration. However, before organic semiconductors can be used for the next-generation devices, such as ultrafast photodetectors (PDs), it is necessary to develop new materials that feature both high mobility and ambient stability. Toward this goal, a highly stable PD based on the organic single crystal [PtBr2 (5,5'-bis(CF3 CH2 OCH2 )-2,2'-bpy)] (or "Pt complex (1o)") is demonstrated as the active semiconductor channel-a material that features a lamellar molecular structure and high-quality, intraligand charge transfer. Benefitting from its unique crystal structure, the Pt-complex (1o) device exhibits a field-effect mobility of ≈0.45 cm2 V-1 s-1 without loss of significant performance under ambient conditions even after 40 days without encapsulation, as well as immersion in distilled water for a period of 24 h. Furthermore, the device features a maximum photoresponsivity of 1 × 103 A W-1 , a detectivity of 1.1 × 1012 cm Hz1/2 W-1 , and a record fast response/recovery time of 80/90 µs, which has never been previously achieved in other organic PDs. These findings strongly support and promote the use of the single-crystal Pt complex (1o) in next-generation organic optoelectronic devices.

Orthogonal Lithography for Halide Perovskite Optoelectronic Nanodevices.

3D organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskites have attracted great interest due to their impressive optoelectronic properties. Recently, the emergence of 2D layered hybrid perovskites, with their excellent and tunable optoelectronic behavior, has encouraged researchers to develop the next generation of optoelectronics based on these 2D materials. However, device fabrication methods of scalable patterning on both types of hybrid perovskites are still lacking as these materials are readily damaged by the organic solvents in standard lithographic processes. We conceived the orthogonal processing and patterning method: Chlorobenzene and hexane, which are orthogonal to hybrid perovskites, are utilized in modified electron beam lithography (EBL) processes to fabricate perovskite-based devices without compromising their electronic or optical characteristics. As a proof-of-concept, we used the orthogonal EBL technique to fabricate a 2D layered single-crystal (C6H5C2H4NH3)2PbI4 photodetector featuring nanoscale patterned electrodes and superior photodetection ability with responsivity of 5.4 mA/W and detectivity of 1.07 × 1013 cm Hz1/2/W. Such orthogonal processing and patterning methods are believed to fully enable the high-resolution, high-throughput fabrication of complex perovskite-based electronics in the near future.

Resonance-Enhanced Absorption in Hollow Nanoshell Spheres with Omnidirectional Detection and High Responsivity and Speed.

Optical resonance formed inside a nanocavity resonator can trap light within the active region and hence enhance light absorption, effectively boosting device or material performance in applications of solar cells, photodetectors (PDs), and photocatalysts. Complementing conventional circular and spherical structures, a new type of multishelled spherical resonant strategy is presented. Due to the resonance-enhanced absorption by multiple convex shells, ZnO nanoshell PDs show improved optoelectronic performance and omnidirectional detection of light at different incidence angles and polarization. In addition, the response and recovery speeds of these devices are improved (0.8 and 0.7 ms, respectively) up to three orders of magnitude faster than in previous reports because of the existence of junction barriers between the nanoshells. The general design principles behind these hollow ZnO nanoshells pave a new way to improve the performance of sophisticated nanophotonic devices.

Highly Deformable Origami Paper Photodetector Arrays.

Flexible electronics will form the basis of many next-generation technologies, such as wearable devices, biomedical sensors, the Internet of things, and more. However, most flexible devices can bear strains of less than 300% as a result of stretching. In this work, we demonstrate a simple and low-cost paper-based photodetector array featuring superior deformability using printable ZnO nanowires, carbon electrodes, and origami-based techniques. With a folded Miura structure, the paper photodetector array can be oriented in four different directions via tessellated parallelograms to provide the device with excellent omnidirectional light harvesting capabilities. Additionally, we demonstrate that the device can be repeatedly stretched (up to 1000% strain), bent (bending angle ±30°), and twisted (up to 360°) without degrading performance as a result of the paper folding technique, which enables the ZnO nanowire layers to remain rigid even as the device is deformed. The origami-based strategy described herein suggests avenues for the development of next-generation deformable optoelectronic applications.

Photostriction of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 Perovskite Crystals.

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials exhibit a variety of physical properties. Pronounced coupling between phonon, organic cations, and the inorganic framework suggest that these materials exhibit strong light-matter interactions. The photoinduced strain of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 is investigated using high-resolution and contactless in situ Raman spectroscopy. Under illumination, the material exhibits large blue shifts in its Raman spectra that indicate significant structural deformations (i.e., photostriction). From these shifts, the photostrictive coefficient of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 is calculated as 2.08 × 10-8 m2 W-1 at room temperature under visible light illumination. The significant photostriction of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 is attributed to a combination of the photovoltaic effect and translational symmetry loss of the molecular configuration via strong translation-rotation coupling. Unlike CH3 NH3 PbI3 , it is noted that the photostriction of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 is extremely stable, demonstrating no signs of optical decay for at least 30 d. These results suggest the potential of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 for applications in next-generation optical micro-electromechanical devices.

Photostriction of strontium ruthenate.

Transition metal oxides with a perovskite crystal structure exhibit a variety of physical properties associated with the lattice. Among these materials, strontium ruthenate (SrRuO3) displays unusually strong coupling of charge, spin and lattice degrees of freedom that can give rise to the photostriction, that is, changes in the dimensions of material due to the absorption of light. In this study, we observe a photon-induced strain as high as 1.12% in single domain SrRuO3, which we attribute to a nonequilibrium of phonons that are a result of the strong interaction between the crystalline lattice and electrons excited by light. In addition, these light-induced changes in the SrRuO3 lattice affect its electrical resistance. The observation of both photostriction and photoresistance in SrRuO3 suggests the possibility of utilizing the mechanical and optical functionalities of the material for next-generation optoelectronics, such as remote switches, light-controlled elastic micromotors, microactuators and other optomechanical systems.

Efficiency Enhancement of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells via Photon Management Using Graphene Quantum Dot as Downconverters.

By employing graphene quantum dots (GQDs), we have achieved a high efficiency of 16.55% in n-type Si heterojunction solar cells. The efficiency enhancement is based on the photon downconversion phenomenon of GQDs to make more photons absorbed in the depletion region for effective carrier separation, leading to the enhanced photovoltaic effect. The short circuit current and the fill factor are increased from 35.31 to 37.47 mA/cm(2) and 70.29% to 72.51%, respectively. The work demonstrated here holds the promise for incorporating graphene-based materials in commercially available solar devices for developing ultrahigh efficiency photovoltaic cells in the future.

Bottom-Up Nano-heteroepitaxy of Wafer-Scale Semipolar GaN on (001) Si.

Semipolar {101¯1} InGaN quantum wells are grown on (001) Si substrates with an Al-free buffer and wafer-scale uniformity. The novel structure is achieved by a bottom-up nano-heteroepitaxy employing self-organized ZnO nanorods as the strain-relieving layer. This ZnO nanostructure unlocks the problems encountered by the conventional AlN-based buffer, which grows slowly and contaminates the growth chamber.

Tuning electronic transport in a self-assembled nanocomposite.

Self-assembled nanocomposites with a high interface-to-volume ratio offer an opportunity to overcome limitations in current technology, where intriguing transport behaviors can be tailored by the choice of proper interactions of constituents. Here we integrated metallic perovskite oxide SrRuO3-wurzite semiconductor ZnO nanocomposites to investigate the room-temperature metal-insulator transition and its effect on photoresponse. We demonstrate that the band structure at the interface can be tuned by controlling the interface-to-volume ratio of the nanocomposites. Photoinduced carrier injection driven by visible light was detected across the nanocomposites. This work shows the charge interaction of the vertically integrated multiheterostructures by incorporating a controllable interface-to-volume ratio, which is essential for optimization of the design and functionality of electronic devices.

An energy-harvesting scheme employing CuGaSe2 quantum dot-modified ZnO buffer layers for drastic conversion efficiency enhancement in inorganic-organic hybrid solar cells.

We demonstrated a promising route to enhance the performance of inverted organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices by the incorporation of CuGaSe2 (CGS) quantum dots (QDs) into the ZnO buffer layer of P3HT:PCBM-based devices. The modification of QDs provides better band alignment between the organic/cathode interface, improves ZnO crystal quality, and increases photon absorption, leading to more effective carrier transport/collection. By employing this energy-harvesting scheme, short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor of the OPV device after CGS QD modification are improved by 9.43%, 7.02% and 6.31%, respectively, giving rise to a 23.8% enhancement in the power conversion efficiency.

Periodic Si nanopillar arrays by anodic aluminum oxide template and catalytic etching for broadband and omnidirectional light harvesting.

Large-area, periodic Si nanopillar arrays (NPAs) with the periodicity of 100 nm and the diameter of 60 nm were fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching with anodic aluminum oxide as a patterning mask. The 100-nm-periodicity NPAs serve an antireflection function especially at the wavelengths of 200~400 nm, where the reflectance is decreased to be almost tenth of the value of the polished Si (from 62.9% to 7.9%). These NPAs show very low reflectance for broadband wavelengths and omnidirectional light incidence, attributed to the small periodicity and the stepped refractive index of NPA layers. The experimental results are confirmed by theoretical calculations. Raman scattering intensity was also found to be significantly increased with Si NPAs. The introduction of this industrial-scale self-assembly methodology for light