A research team under the direction of Felix Deschler at Heidelberg University’s Institute for Physical Chemistry has developed a semiconductor that efficiently generates light and simultaneously gives that light a certain spin. According to the researchers, the chiral perovskite material has great technological potential that can be used for applications in optoelectronics, telecommunications, and information processing.

Generating bright, circularly polarized light has long been a goal of materials science. It is considered ex­ceedingly difficult to achieve a distinct chirality as well as high photo­luminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE). The PLQE value expresses the ability of a material to emit light. Inorganic semiconductors are able to emit high brightness but usually exhibit low light polarisation. In contrast, organic molecular semiconductors do have high polari­zation, but their brightness is often limited by losses due to dark conditions. “Until now, a material that truly combines the high luminescence quantum efficiency of inorganic semi­conductors and the strong chirality of organic molecular systems has been lacking,” reports Felix Deschler.

To simultaneously obtain the desired brightness and high polari­zation, the Heidelberg research group developed a hybrid metal-halide perovskite semi­conductor with a layered structure. The scientists integrated a customised chiral organic molecule into the perovskite structure as a hybrid component. Using a small aromatic molecule with a precisely placed halogen atom in the aromatic ring gave rise to novel chiral perovskites. “The ability to alter the structure so drama­tically and yet still retain good material performance underscores the ability of perovskite materials to tolerate distortion in the crystal structure,” explains doctoral candidate Shangpu Liu.

Owing to their greatly distorted crystal structures, the chiral perovskites used exhibit a noticeably better degree of circu­larly polarized luminescence than other materials even at room temperature. Aided by sophisticated ultra-fast laser spectro­scopy measurements, the researchers were able to unravel the processes behind the generation of this special light. The values found for polari­zation and brightness exceed those known for previously used chiral semiconductors.

The researchers were also able to show that the novel materials are extremely promising for appli­cations that rely on circularly polarised light. They implemented the materials in light detectors that can record and differen­tiate the chirality of the incident light. Furthermore, the research team developed light-emitting diodes from which light can be generated from electricity. (Source: U. Heidelberg)

Reference: S. Liu et al.: Bright circularly polarized photoluminescence in chiral layered hybrid lead-halide perovskites, Sci. Adv. 9, adh5083 (2023); DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh5083

Link: Functional Material Dynamics, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany