Title: Direct Detection of Circularly Polarized Light Using Chiral Copper Chloride–Carbon Nanotube Heterostructures

Abstract

The emergent properties of chiral organic–inorganic hybrid materials offer opportunities in spin-dependent optoelectronic devices. One of the most promising applications where spin, charge, and light are strongly coupled is circularly polarized light (CPL) detection. However, the performance of state-of-the-art CPL detectors using chiral hybrid metal halide semiconductors is still limited by the low anisotropy factor, poor conductivity, and limited photoresponsivity. Here, we synthesize 0D chiral copper chloride hybrids, templated by chiral methylbenzylammonium (R/S-MBA), i.e., (R-/S-MBA)₂CuCl₄, that display circular dichroism for the ligand-to-metal charge transfer transition with an absorption anisotropy factor (g_CD) among the largest reported for chiral metal halide semiconductor hybrids. To circumvent the poor conductivity of the unpercolated inorganic framework of this chiral absorber, we develop a direct CPL detector that utilizes a heterojunction between the chiral (MBA)₂CuCl₄ absorber layer and a semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (s-SWCNT) transport channel. Our chiral heterostructure shows high photoresponsivity of 452 A/W, a competitive anisotropy factor (gres) of up to 0.21, a current response in microamperes, and low working voltage down to 0.01 V. Our results clearly demonstrate a useful strategy toward high-performance chiral optoelectronic devices, where a nanoscale heterostructure enables direct CPL detection even for highly insulating chiral materials.

Authors:

Hao, Ji ^[1]; Lu, Haipeng  ^[2];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Lu, Haipeng"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-0252-3086"

Mao, Lingling  ^[3];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Mao, Lingling"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-3166-8559"

Chen, Xihan  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Chen, Xihan"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-7907-2549"

Beard, Matthew C.  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Beard, Matthew C."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-2711-1355"

Blackburn, Jeffrey L.  ^[4]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Blackburn, Jeffrey L."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-9237-5891"

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Chemistry & Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
2. Chemistry & Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States, Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China (SAR)
3. Materials Department and Materials Research Laboratory University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
4. Materials Science Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States

Publication Date:

Tue Apr 06 00:00:00 EDT 2021

Research Org.:

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1972383

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1778708

Report Number(s):

NREL/JA-5K00-79165
Journal ID: ISSN 1936-0851

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC36-08G028308; SC0012541; AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

ACS Nano

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: ACS Nano Journal Volume: 15 Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1936-0851

Publisher:

American Chemical Society

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; photodetector; spin; chiral; perovskite; low-dimensional; carbon nanotube