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Both organohalide perovskites and colloidal quantum dots are attractive and promising materials for optoelectronic applications. Recent experiments have combined the two to create “quantum dot-in-perovskite” assemblies for highly efficient light emissions. In this work, we unravel photoexcitation dynamics at the interface between the perovskite and the quantum dot by means of first-principle non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations. We find that such assemblies adopt the type-I band structure and are free of defect states. The interfacial and the electronic structure are robust against the thermal fluctuations at 300K. The lowest excitation is predicted to be localized entirely on the quantum dot and the photoexcited charge transfer takes place in a picosecond timescale. The charge transfer dynamics of the photoexcited electron and hole exhibits a moderate asymmetry, which can be attributed to the differences in electronic coupling between the donor and the acceptor and the electron-phonon coupling. The ultrafast and balanced charge transfer dynamics endows the ‘dot-in-a-crystal’ devices with unprecedented performance, which could lead to important applications in photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and infrared light emissions.
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Incoherent nonadiabatic to coherent adiabatic transition of electron transfer in colloidal quantum dot molecules
Abstract Electron transfer is a fundamental process in chemistry, biology, and physics. One of the most intriguing questions concerns the realization of the transitions between nonadiabatic and adiabatic regimes of electron transfer. Using colloidal quantum dot molecules, we computationally demonstrate how the hybridization energy (electronic coupling) can be tuned by changing the neck dimensions and/or the quantum dot sizes. This provides a handle to tune the electron transfer from the incoherent nonadiabatic regime to the coherent adiabatic regime in a single system. We develop an atomistic model to account for several states and couplings to the lattice vibrations and utilize the mean-field mixed quantum-classical method to describe the charge transfer dynamics. Here, we show that charge transfer rates increase by several orders of magnitude as the system is driven to the coherent, adiabatic limit, even at elevated temperatures, and delineate the inter-dot and torsional acoustic modes that couple most strongly to the charge transfer dynamics.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2026741
- PAR ID:
- 10416316
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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