Real-space imaging of photo-generated surface carrier transport in 2D perovskites

Lijie Wang; Wentao Wu; Jie Yang; Razan Nughays; Yifan Zhou; Esma Ugur; Xi Zhang; Bingyao Shao; Jian-Xin Wang; Jun Yin; Stefaan De Wolf; Osman M. Bakr; Omar F. Mohammed

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01758-5

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Real-space imaging of photo-generated surface carrier transport in 2D perovskites

Original Articles

- Real-space imaging of photo-generated surface carrier transport in 2D perovskites
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 5, Pages: 1290-1299(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center (AMPM), Division of Physical Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
  2.Key Laboratory of Material Physics, Ministry of Education, School of Physics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
  3.Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
  4.KAUST Solar Center (KSC), King Abdullah University of Science (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
  5.KAUST Catalysis Center (KCC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
- Author bio：
  
  Omar F. Mohammed (omar.abdelsaboor@kaust.edu.sa)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01758-5
  CLC：
- Received：06 August 2024，
  
  Revised：29 December 2024，
  
  Accepted：13 January 2025，
  
  Published Online：18 March 2025，
  
  Published：31 May 2025
- Accepted：
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Wang, L. J. et al. Real-space imaging of photo-generated surface carrier transport in 2D perovskites. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 1290-1299 (2025).
DOI：

Wang, L. J. et al. Real-space imaging of photo-generated surface carrier transport in 2D perovskites. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 1290-1299 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01758-5.

摘要

Abstract

In layered two-dimensional (2D) perovskites

the inorganic perovskite layers sandwiched between cation spacers create quantum well (QW) structures

showing large exciton binding energies that hinder the efficient dissociation of excitons into free carriers. This leads to poor carrier transport properties and low-performance light-conversion-based devices

and the direct understanding of the underlying physics

particularly concerning surface states

remains extremely difficult

if not impossible

due to the challenges in real-time accessibility. Here

we utilized four-dimensional scanning ultrafast electron microscopy (4D-SUEM)

a highly sensitive technique for mapping surface carrier diffusion that diverges from those in the bulk and substantially affects material properties. We directly visualize photo-generated carrier transport over both spatial and temporal dimensions on the top surface of 2D perovskites with varying inorganic perovskite layer thicknesses (

= 1

and 3). The results reveal the photo-induced surface carrier diffusion rates of ~30 cm

·s

-1

for

= 1

~180 cm

·s

-1

for

= 2

and ~470 cm

·s

-1

for

= 3

which are over 20 times larger than bulk. This is because charge carrier transmission channels have much wider distributions on the top surface compared to the bulk

as supported by the Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. Finally

our findings represent the demonstration to directly correlate the discrepancies between surface and bulk carrier diffusion behaviors

their relationship with exciton binding energy

and the number of layers in 2D perovskites

providing valuable insights into enhancing the performance of 2D perovskite-based optoelectronic devices through interface engineering.

关键词

Keywords

references

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