TY - JOUR
T1 - Emission Control from Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers by Aggregation-Induced Molecular Rotors
AU - Tebyetekerwa, Mike
AU - Cheng, Yanhua
AU - Zhang, Jian
AU - Li, Weili
AU - Li, Hongkun
AU - Neupane, Guru Prakash
AU - Wang, Bowen
AU - Truong, Thien N.
AU - Xiao, Chuanxiao
AU - Al-Jassim, Mowafak M.
AU - Yin, Zongyou
AU - Lu, Yuerui
AU - Macdonald, Daniel
AU - Nguyen, Hieu T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2020/6/23
Y1 - 2020/6/23
N2 - Organic-inorganic (O-I) heterostructures, consisting of atomically thin inorganic semiconductors and organic molecules, present synergistic and enhanced optoelectronic properties with a high tunability. Here, we develop a class of air-stable vertical O-I heterostructures comprising a monolayer of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), including WS2, WSe2, and MoSe2, on top of tetraphenylethylene (TPE) core-based aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecular rotors. The created O-I heterostructures yields a photoluminescence (PL) enhancement of up to ∼950%, ∼500%, and ∼330% in the top monolayer WS2, MoSe2, and WSe2 as compared to PL in their pristine monolayers, respectively. The strong PL enhancement is mainly attributed to the efficient photogenerated carrier process in the AIE luminogens (courtesy of their restricted intermolecular motions in the solid state) and the charge-transfer process in the created type I O-I heterostructures. Moreover, we observe an improvement in photovoltaic properties of the TMDs in the heterostructures including the quasi-Fermi level splitting, minority carrier lifetime, and light absorption. This work presents an inspiring example of combining stable, highly luminescent AIE-based molecules, with rich photochemistry and versatile applications, with atomically thin inorganic semiconductors for multifunctional and efficient optoelectronic devices.
AB - Organic-inorganic (O-I) heterostructures, consisting of atomically thin inorganic semiconductors and organic molecules, present synergistic and enhanced optoelectronic properties with a high tunability. Here, we develop a class of air-stable vertical O-I heterostructures comprising a monolayer of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), including WS2, WSe2, and MoSe2, on top of tetraphenylethylene (TPE) core-based aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecular rotors. The created O-I heterostructures yields a photoluminescence (PL) enhancement of up to ∼950%, ∼500%, and ∼330% in the top monolayer WS2, MoSe2, and WSe2 as compared to PL in their pristine monolayers, respectively. The strong PL enhancement is mainly attributed to the efficient photogenerated carrier process in the AIE luminogens (courtesy of their restricted intermolecular motions in the solid state) and the charge-transfer process in the created type I O-I heterostructures. Moreover, we observe an improvement in photovoltaic properties of the TMDs in the heterostructures including the quasi-Fermi level splitting, minority carrier lifetime, and light absorption. This work presents an inspiring example of combining stable, highly luminescent AIE-based molecules, with rich photochemistry and versatile applications, with atomically thin inorganic semiconductors for multifunctional and efficient optoelectronic devices.
KW - aggregation-induced emission (AIE)
KW - molecular rotors
KW - monolayer semiconductors
KW - organic-inorganic heterostructures
KW - photoluminescence pumping
KW - transition metal dichalcogenides
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087096655&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsnano.0c03086
DO - 10.1021/acsnano.0c03086
M3 - Article
SN - 1936-0851
VL - 14
SP - 7444
EP - 7453
JO - ACS Nano
JF - ACS Nano
IS - 6
ER -