Spatial Heterogeneity of Biexcitons in Two-Dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper Lead Iodide Perovskites.

Quantum confinement in two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) perovskites leads to the formation of stable quasi-particles, including excitons and biexcitons, the latter of which may enable lasing in these materials. Due to their hybrid organic-inorganic structures and the solution phase synthesis, microcrystals of 2D RP perovskites can be quite heterogeneous, with variations in excitonic and biexcitonic properties between crystals from the same synthesis and even within individual crystals. Here, we employ one- and two-quantum two-dimensional white-light microscopy to systematically study the spatial variations of excitons and biexcitons in microcrystals of a series of 2D RP perovskites BA2MAn-1PbnI3n+1 (n = 2-4, BA= butylammonium, MA = methylammonium). We find that the average biexciton binding energy of around 60 meV is essentially independent of the perovskite layer thickness (n). We also resolve spatial variations of the exciton and biexciton energies on micron length scales within individual crystals. By comparing the one-quantum and two-quantum spectra at each pixel, we conclude that biexcitons are more sensitive to their environments than excitons. These results shed new light on the ways disorder can modify the energetic landscape of excitons and biexcitons in RP perovskites and how biexcitons can be used as a sensitive probe of the microscopic environment of a semiconductor.

LncRNA NR024118 is downregulated in sepsis and inhibits LPS­induced apoptosis of cardiomyocytes.

It has been reported that lncRNA­NR024118 can suppress lipopolysaccharide (LPS)­induced inflammatory responses, which promote sepsis. The present study aimed to investigate the involvement of NR024118 in sepsis. Research subjects included 82 patients with sepsis without myocardial dysfunction (MD), 35 patients with sepsis with MD and 82 healthy controls. The expression levels of NR024118 in plasma collected from these participants and LPS­induced AC16 cells were measured by reverse transcription­quantitative PCR. The expression levels of IL­16 in these plasma samples and LPS­induced AC16 cells were measured by ELISA. The correlation between the expression levels of NR024118 and IL­6 across plasma samples were analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient. The action potential duration (APD) was measured at 50 and 90% repolarization. Cell apoptosis was determined by cell apoptosis assay. The expression levels of p­transcription factor p65 were detected by western blot analysis. NF­κB activity were analyzed by luciferase reporter assay. It was found that NR024118 was downregulated and IL­6 was upregulated in the plasma of patients with sepsis. Among patients with sepsis, the individuals with MD exhibited even lower expression levels of NR024118 and higher expression levels of IL­6. Among patients with sepsis with MD, the expression levels of NR024118 and IL­6 were inversely correlated. LPS could induce MD to construct the sepsis models based on the increased expression levels of TNF­α, IL­1ß, IL­6 and shortened APD by LPS­mediated induction. Overexpression of NR024118 significantly reduced the secretion of IL­6 and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes under LPS treatment. Functional studies demonstrated that NR024118 had negative regulation on p65 phosphorylation and NF­κB activation. NR024118 was suppressed in sepsis and inhibited LPS­induced apoptosis of cardiomyocytes.

Anion Exchange of Ruddlesden-Popper Lead Halide Perovskites Produces Stable Lateral Heterostructures.

Heterostructures of three-dimensional (3D) halide perovskites are unstable because of facile anion interdiffusion at halide interfaces. Two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden-Popper halide perovskites (RPPs) show suppressed and anisotropic ion diffusion that could enable stable RPP heterostructures, yet the direct and general growth of lateral RPP heterostructures remains challenging. Here, we show that halide miscibility in RPPs decreases with perovskite layer thickness (n), enabling the formation of sharp halide lateral heterostructures from n = 1 and 2 RP lead iodide microplates via anion exchange with hydrogen bromide vapor. In contrast, RPPs with n ≥ 3 form more diffuse lateral heterojunctions, more similar to those in 3D perovskites. The anion exchange behaviors are further modulated by the spacer and A-site cations in the RPP structures. These new insights, and kinetic studies of the exchange reactions, enable the preparation of lateral heterostructures from various n = 2 RPPs that are more stable against anion interdiffusion and degradation for potential optoelectronic device applications.

Distinct Carrier Transport Properties Across Horizontally vs Vertically Oriented Heterostructures of 2D/3D Perovskites.

Two-dimensional-on-three-dimensional (2D/3D) halide perovskite heterostructures have been extensively utilized in optoelectronic devices. However, the labile nature of halide perovskites makes it difficult to form such heterostructures with well-defined compositions, orientations, and interfaces, which inhibits understanding of the carrier transfer properties across these heterostructures. Here, we report solution growth of both horizontally and vertically aligned 2D perovskite (PEA)2PbBr4 (PEA = phenylethylammonium) microplates onto 3D CsPbBr3 single crystal thin films, with well-defined heterojunctions. Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) transients of the heterostructures exhibit the monomolecular and bimolecular dynamics expected from exciton annihilation, dissociation, and recombination, as well as evidence for carrier transfer in these heterostructures. Two kinetic models based on Type-I and Type-II band alignments at the interface of horizontal 2D/3D heterostructures are applied to reveal a shift in balance between carrier transfer and recombination: Type-I band alignment better describes the behaviors of heterostructures with thin 2D perovskite microplates but Type-II band alignment better describes those with thick 2D microplates (>150 nm). TRPL of vertically aligned 2D microplates is dominated by directly excited PL and is independent of the height above the 3D film. Electrical measurements reveal current rectification behaviors in both heterostructures with vertical heterostructures showing better electrical transport. As the first systematic study on comparing models of 2D/3D perovskite heterostructures with controlled orientations and compositions, this work provides insights on the charge transfer mechanisms in these perovskite heterostructures and guidelines for designing better optoelectronic devices.

Deterministic fabrication of arbitrary vertical heterostructures of two-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper halide perovskites.

Ruddlesden-Popper lead halide perovskites have emerged as a new class of two-dimensional semiconductors with tunable optoelectronic properties, potentially offering unlimited heterostructure configurations for exploration. However, the practical realization of such heterostructures is challenging because of the difficulty in achieving controllable direct synthesis or van der Waals integration of halide perovskites due to their mobile and fragile crystal lattices. Here we report direct growth of large-area nanosheets of diverse phase-pure Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites with thicknesses down to one monolayer at the solution-air interface and a reliable approach for gently transferring and stacking these nanosheets. These advances enable the deterministic fabrication of arbitrary vertical heterostructures and multi-heterostructures of Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites with greater structural degrees of freedom that define the electronic structures of the heterojunctions. Such rationally designed heterostructures exhibit interesting interlayer properties, such as interlayer carrier transfer and reduction of the photoluminescence linewidth, and could enable the exploration of exciton physics and optoelectronic applications.

Phenethylammonium Functionalization Enhances Near-Surface Carrier Diffusion in Hybrid Perovskites.

Understanding semiconductor surface properties and manipulating them chemically are critical for improving their performance in optoelectronic devices. Hybrid halide perovskites have emerged as an exciting class of highly efficient solar materials; however, their device performance could be limited by undesirable surface properties that impede carrier transport and induce recombination. Here we show that surface functionalization of methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) perovskite with phenethylammonium iodide (PEAI), a commonly employed spacer cation in two-dimensional halide perovskites, can enhance carrier diffusion in the near-surface regions and reduce defect density by more than 1 order of magnitude. Using transient transmission and reflection microscopy, we selectively imaged the transport of the carriers near the (001) surface and in the bulk for single-crystal MAPbI3 microplates. The surface functionalization increases the diffusion coefficient of the carriers in the 40 nm subsurface region from ∼0.6 cm2 s-1 to ∼1.0 cm2 s-1, similar to the value for bulk carriers. These results suggest the PEA ligands are effective in reducing surface defect and phonon scattering and shed light on the mechanisms for enhancing photophysical properties and improving solar cell efficiency.

Incorporating Large A Cations into Lead Iodide Perovskite Cages: Relaxed Goldschmidt Tolerance Factor and Impact on Exciton-Phonon Interaction.

The stability and formation of a perovskite structure is dictated by the Goldschmidt tolerance factor as a general geometric guideline. The tolerance factor has limited the choice of cations (A) in 3D lead iodide perovskites (APbI3), an intriguing class of semiconductors for high-performance photovoltaics and optoelectronics. Here, we show the tolerance factor requirement is relaxed in 2D Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) perovskites, enabling the incorporation of a variety of larger cations beyond the methylammonium (MA), formamidinium, and cesium ions in the lead iodide perovskite cages for the first time. This is unequivocally confirmed with the single-crystal X-ray structure of newly synthesized guanidinium (GA)-based (n-C6H13NH3)2(GA)Pb2I7, which exhibits significantly enlarged and distorted perovskite cage containing sterically constrained GA cation. Structural comparison with (n-C6H13NH3)2(MA)Pb2I7 reveals that the structural stabilization originates from the mitigation of strain accumulation and self-adjustable strain-balancing in 2D RP structures. Furthermore, spectroscopic studies show a large A cation significantly influences carrier dynamics and exciton-phonon interactions through modulating the inorganic sublattice. These results enrich the diverse families of perovskite materials, provide new insights into the mechanistic role of A-site cations on their physical properties, and have implications to solar device studies using engineered perovskite thin films incorporating such large organic cations.

Multicolor Heterostructures of Two-Dimensional Layered Halide Perovskites that Show Interlayer Energy Transfer.

Fabrication of heterostructures using two-dimensional (2D) materials with different bandgaps creates opportunities for exploring new properties and device applications. Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) layered halide perovskites have recently emerged as a new class of solution-processable 2D materials that demonstrate exotic optoelectronic properties. However, heterostructures using 2D halide perovskites have not been achieved. Here, we report a simple solution growth method for making vertically stacked double heterostructures and complex multilayer heterostructures of 2D lead iodide perovskites [(PEA)2(MA) n-1Pb nI3 n+1, PEA = C6H5(CH2)2NH3+, MA = CH3NH3+] via van der Waals epitaxy. These heterostructures present atomically sharp interfaces and display distinct photoluminescence that allow fingerprinting the RP phases. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements reveal internal energy transfer from higher energy bandgap (lower n value) perovskite layers to lower energy bandgap (higher n value) perovskite layers on the time scale of hundreds of picoseconds due to natural type I band alignments. These results offer new strategies to fabricate perovskite-perovskite heterojunctions by taking advantage of surface-bound ligands as spatial barriers to prevent ion migration across the junctions. These heterostructures capable of multicolor emission with high spectral purity are promising for light-emitting applications.

Visualization and Studies of Ion-Diffusion Kinetics in Cesium Lead Bromide Perovskite Nanowires.

The facile chemical transformation of metal halide perovskites via ion exchange has been attributed to their "soft" crystal lattices that enable fast ion migration. Kinetic studies of such processes could provide mechanistic insights on the ion migration dynamics. Herein, by using aligned single-crystal nanowires of cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) perovskite on epitaxial substrates as platforms, we visualize and investigate the cation or anion interdiffusion kinetics via spatially resolved photoluminescence measurement on heterostructures fabricated by stacking CsPbCl3, MAPbI3, or MAPbBr3 microplates on top of CsPbBr3 nanowires. Time-dependent confocal photoluminescence microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed the solid-state anion interdiffusion readily occurs to result in halide concentration gradients along CsPbBr3-3 xCl3 x ( x = 0-1) nanowires. Quantitative analysis of such composition profiles using Fick's law allowed us, for the first time, to extract interdiffusion coefficients of the chloride-bromide couple and an activation energy of 0.44 ± 0.02 eV for ion diffusion from temperature-dependent studies. In contrast, iodide-bromide interdiffusion is limited, likely due to the complex phase behaviors of mixed alloys of CsPb(Br,I)3. In contrast to the relatively mobile anions, A-site cation interdiffusion across the MAPbBr3/CsPbBr3 junctions was barely observed at room temperature. Our results present a general method to investigate the kinetics of the solid-state ion migration, and the gained insights on ion diffusion can provide guidelines for rationally designing perovskite heterostructures that could lead to new properties for fundamental studies and technological applications.

A Versatile Imaging and Therapeutic Platform Based on Dual-Band Luminescent Lanthanide Nanoparticles toward Tumor Metastasis Inhibition.

Upconversion (UC) luminescent lanthanide nanoparticles (LNPs) are expected to play an important role in imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT) in vitro and in vivo. However, with the absorption of UC emissions by photosensitizers (PSs) to generate singlet oxygen ((1)O2) for PDT, the imaging signals from LNPs are significantly weakened. It is important to activate another imaging route to track the location of the LNPs during PDT process. In this work, Nd(3+)-sensitized LNPs with dual-band visible and near-infrared (NIR) emissions under single 808 nm excitation were reported to address this issue. The UC emissions in green could trigger covalently linked rose bengal (RB) molecules for efficient PDT, and NIR emissions deriving from Yb(3+) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were used for imaging simultaneously. Notably, the designed therapeutic platform could further effectively avoid the overheating effect induced by the laser irradiation, due to the minimized absorption of biological media at around 808 nm. TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay showed serious cell apoptosis in the tumor after PDT for 2 weeks, leading to an effective tumor inhibition rate of 67%. Benefit from the PDT, the tumor growth-induced liver and spleen burdens were largely attenuated, and the liver injury was also alleviated. More importantly, pulmonary and hepatic tumor metastases were significantly reduced after PDT. The Nd(3+)-sensitized LNPs provide a multifunctional nanoplatform for NIR light-assisted PDT with minimized heating effect and an effective inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis.