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Imaging material functionality through three-dimensional nanoscale tracking of energy flow

Nature Materials volume 19, pages 56–62 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The ability of energy carriers to move between atoms and molecules underlies biochemical and material function. Understanding and controlling energy flow, however, requires observing it on ultrasmall and ultrafast spatio-temporal scales, where energetic and structural roadblocks dictate the fate of energy carriers. Here, we developed a non-invasive optical scheme that leverages non-resonant interferometric scattering to track tiny changes in material polarizability created by energy carriers. We thus map evolving energy carrier distributions in four dimensions of spacetime with few-nanometre lateral precision and directly correlate them with material morphology. We visualize exciton, charge and heat transport in polyacene, silicon and perovskite semiconductors and elucidate how disorder affects energy flow in three dimensions. For example, we show that morphological boundaries in polycrystalline metal halide perovskites possess lateral- and depth-dependent resistivities, blocking lateral transport for surface but not bulk carriers. We also reveal strategies for interpreting energy transport in disordered environments that will direct the design of defect-tolerant materials for the semiconductor industry of tomorrow.

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Fig. 1: Visualizing semiconductor exciton, charge and heat transport across four orders of magnitude in space and time.
Fig. 2: Morphology-dependent exciton transport in TIPS-Pn.
Fig. 3: Heterogeneous charge carrier transport in polycrystalline MAPbI3.
Fig. 4: Quantifying spatial and temporal carrier transport heterogeneity in polycrystalline MAPbI3.

Data availability

All raw data are displayed in Figs. 1–3 of the main text and Supplementary Figs. 2–24. Raw image files are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by STROBE, A National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center under grant no. DMR 1548924. The manuscript revision was also supported by the Photonics at Thermodynamic Limits Energy Frontier Research Center, funded by the US Department of Energy Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences Program, under award no. DE-SC0019140. Q.Y. and H.L.W. acknowledge National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship DGE 1106400. N.S.G. acknowledges an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship for Science and Engineering, and a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.

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Author notes

  1. Milan Delor

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Milan Delor & Naomi S. Ginsberg

  2. STROBE, National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Milan Delor, Hannah L. Weaver & Naomi S. Ginsberg

  3. Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Hannah L. Weaver, QinQin Yu & Naomi S. Ginsberg

  4. Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Naomi S. Ginsberg

  5. Material Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Naomi S. Ginsberg

  6. Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Naomi S. Ginsberg

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Contributions

M.D. designed and built the set-up with Q.Y. M.D. and H.L.W. prepared samples and collected the data. M.D. analysed the data. N.S.G. supervised the research. M.D. and N.S.G. wrote the manuscript with input from all authors.

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Correspondence to Naomi S. Ginsberg.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Detailed description of the stroboSCAT set-up, stroboSCAT contrast mechanism, data analysis, sample preparation, current system resolution, distinguishing scattering from normal reflection, supporting experimental data, in situ spectral interferometry on MAPbI3(Cl) films, simulations of depth-dependent carrier diffusion in polycrystalline films using the finite element method, Figs. 1–24 and refs. 1–54.

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Delor, M., Weaver, H.L., Yu, Q. et al. Imaging material functionality through three-dimensional nanoscale tracking of energy flow. Nat. Mater. 19, 56–62 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0498-x

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