Modulation of Charge Recombination in CsPbBr₃ Perovskite Films with Electrochemical Bias

The charging of a mesoscopic TiO₂ layer in a metal halide perovskite solar cell can influence the overall power conversion efficiency. By employing CsPbBr₃ films deposited on a mesoscopic TiO₂ film, we have succeeded in probing the influence of electrochemical bias on the charge carrier recombination process. The transient absorption spectroscopy experiments conducted at different applied potentials indicate a decrease in the charge carrier lifetimes of CsPbBr₃ as we increase the potential from −0.6 to +0.6 V vs Ag/AgCl. The charge carrier lifetime increased upon reversing the applied bias, thus indicating the reversibility of the photoresponse to charging effects. The ultrafast spectroelectrochemical experiments described here offer a convenient approach to probe the charging effects in perovskite solar cells

Temperature Dependent Carrier Dynamics in Ga-Alloyed CdSe/ZnS Core–Shell Quantum Dots

In this work, temperature dependent transient absorption spectroscopy measurements are presented on gallium-alloyed CdSe/ZnS core–shell nanoparticles between 30 and 130 °C. To our knowledge, temperature dependent measurements in these systems have been reported only in a few papers, although all processes related to carrier recombination are affected by temperature. For these experiments, gallium-alloyed CdSe/ZnS QD samples were used with nominal doping percentages of 2.5%, 7.5%, 15%. The experimental results show that the transient absorption decay is faster for the pristine CdSe/ZnS samples than in the gallium-alloyed samples at all temperatures. It is assumed that Ga-alloying promotes the formation of trions in the samples by introducing occupied impurity levels within the bandgap of CdSe. The resulting Coulomb blockade will, in turn, prolong the hot-electron relaxation process. By variation of the temperature, the distribution of charge carriers in the different recombination channels can be altered to accelerate recombination in the Ga-alloyed samples at higher temperatures. These measurements demonstrated their usefulness for observing the redistribution of charge carriers among different relaxation pathways

Exciton Dynamics in MoS₂‑Pentacene and WSe₂‑Pentacene Heterojunctions

We measured the exciton dynamics in van der Waals heterojunctions of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and organic semiconductors (OSs). TMDCs and OSs are semiconducting materials with rich and highly diverse optical and electronic properties. Their heterostructures, exhibiting van der Waals bonding at their interfaces, can be utilized in the field of optoelectronics and photovoltaics. Two types of heterojunctions, MoS2-pentacene and WSe2-pentacene, were prepared by layer transfer of 20 nm pentacene thin films as well as MoS2 and WSe2 monolayer crystals onto Au surfaces. The samples were studied by means of transient absorption spectroscopy in the reflectance mode. We found that A-exciton decay by hole transfer from MoS2 to pentacene occurs with a characteristic time of 21 ± 3 ps. This is slow compared to previously reported hole transfer times of 6.7 ps in MoS2-pentacene junctions formed by vapor deposition of pentacene molecules onto MoS2 on SiO2. The B-exciton decay in WSe2 shows faster hole transfer rates for WSe2-pentacene heterojunctions, with a characteristic time of 7 ± 1 ps. The A-exciton in WSe2 also decays faster due to the presence of a pentacene overlayer; however, fitting the decay traces did not allow for the unambiguous assignment of the associated decay time. Our work provides important insights into excitonic dynamics in the growing field of TMDC-OS heterojunctions