ABSTRACT
Gaining control over magnetic structure has been an ongoing challenge in materials that form complex, nanoscale, and non-collinear magnetic configurations. Recently, it was predicted that tuning the ratio of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in tetragonal inverse Heuslers through changes in composition could allow a range of interesting magnetic states to be accessed, from simple ferrimagnetism, to helical and antiskyrmionic phases. Here, we show tunability of the magnetic phase behavior in the Mn-Rh-Sn system through Ir substitution on the Rh substructure. Iridium substitution correlates to an increase in the strength of ferromagnetic exchange couplings, at the expense of antiferromagnetic exchange couplings. However, we do not observe the complex non-collinear magnetic phases proposed previously, likely due to the extremely narrow composition window where these phases are predicted to form in a bulk sample. This work highlights the sensitivity of complex magnetic structures to stoichiometry, which makes them difficult to discover empirically.
ABSTRACT
The emission of white light from a single material is atypical and is of interest for solid-state lighting applications. Broadband light emission has been observed in some layered perovskite derivatives, A2PbBr4 (A = R-NH3+), and correlates with static structural distortions corresponding to out-of-plane tilting of the lead bromide octahedra. While materials with different organic cations can yield distinct out-of-plane tilts, the underlying origin of the octahedral tilting remains poorly understood. Using high energy resolution (e.g., quasi-elastic) neutron scattering, this contribution details the rotational dynamics of the organic cations in A2PbBr4 materials where A = n-butylammonium (nBA), 1,8-diaminooctammonium (ODA), and 4-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The organic cation dynamics differentiate (nBA)2PbBr4 from (ODA)PbBr4 or (GABA)2PbBr4 in that the larger spatial extent of dynamics of nBA yields a larger effective cation radius. The larger effective volume of the nBA cation in (nBA)2PbBr4 yields a closer to ideal A-site geometry, preventing the out-of-plane tilt and broadband luminescence. In all three compounds, we observe hydrogen dynamics attributed to rotation of the ammonium headgroup and at a time scale faster than the white light photoluminescence studied by time-correlated single photon counting spectroscopy. This supports a previous assignment of the broadband emission as resulting from a single ensemble, such that the emissive excited state experiences many local structures faster than the emissive decay. The findings presented here highlight the role of the organic cation and its dynamics in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites and white light emission.
ABSTRACT
Hybrid halide perovskites consisting of corner-sharing metal halide octahedra and small cuboctahedral cages filled with counter cations have proven to be prominent candidates for many high-performance optoelectronic devices. The stability limits of their three-dimensional perovskite framework are defined by the size range of the cations present in the cages of the structure. In some cases, the stability of the perovskite-type structure can be extended even when the counterions violate the size and shape requirements, as is the case in the so-called "hollow" perovskites. In this work, we engineered a new family of 3D highly defective yet crystalline "hollow" bromide perovskites with general formula (FA)1-x(en)x(Pb)1-0.7x(Br)3-0.4x (FA = formamidinium (FA+), en = ethylenediammonium (en2+), x = 0-0.44). Pair distribution function analysis shed light on the local structural coherence, revealing a wide distribution of Pb-Pb distances in the crystal structure as a consequence of the Pb/Br-deficient nature and en inclusion in the lattice. By manipulating the number of Pb/Br vacancies, we finely tune the optical properties of the pristine FAPbBr3 by blue shifting the band gap from 2.20 to 2.60 eV for the x = 0.42 en sample. A most unexpected outcome was that at x> 0.33 en incorporation, the material exhibits strong broad light emission (1% photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY)) that is maintained after exposure to air for more than a year. This is the first example of strong broad light emission from a 3D hybrid halide perovskite, demonstrating that meticulous defect engineering is an excellent tool for customizing the optical properties of these semiconductors.
ABSTRACT
Hybrid perovskites are a technologically relevant family of materials, with potential applications in photovoltaics, solid-state lighting, and radiation detection. Interactions between the inorganic octahedral framework and the organic sublattice have been implicated in the structure and optoelectronic properties, but characterization of these interactions has been challenging, because of competition between organic-inorganic coupling and intraoctahedral interactions. Owing to their decreased octahedral connectivity, vacancy-ordered double perovskites present an ideal case study to examine organic-inorganic coupling in hybrid perovskites and their derivatives. Here, we describe the low-temperature, hysteretic phase transition of formamidinium tin(IV) iodide from the high-symmetry cubic phase to a lower-symmetry monoclinic phase. We propose that the hysteresis stems from organic-inorganic coupling mediated by local and spontaneous strain from the orientations of the formamidinium cations, which result in a ferroelastic phase transition.
ABSTRACT
Hybrid metal halides yield highly desirable optoelectronic properties and offer significant opportunity due to their solution processability. This contribution reports a new series of hybrid semiconductors, (C7H7)MX4 (M = Bi3+, Sb3+; X = Cl-, Br-, I-), that are composed of edge-sharing MX6 chains separated in space by π-stacked tropylium (C7H7+) cations; the inorganic chains resemble the connectivity of BiI3. The Bi3+ compounds have blue-shifted optical absorptions relative to the Sb3+ compounds that span the visible and near-IR region. Consistent with observations, DFT calculations reveal that the conduction band is composed of the tropylium cation and valence band primarily the inorganic chain: a charge-transfer semiconductor. The band gaps for both Bi3+ and Sb3+ compounds decrease systematically as a function of increasing halide size. These compounds are a rare example of charge-transfer semiconductors that also exhibit efficient crystal packing of the organic cations, thus providing an opportunity to study how structural packing affects optoelectronic properties.
