Erik M. Grumstrup

Direct imaging of free carrier and trap carrier motion in silicon nanowires by spatially-separated femtosecond pump-probe microscopy.

We have developed a pump-probe microscope capable of exciting a single semiconductor nanostructure in one location and probing it in another with both high spatial and temporal resolution. Experiments performed on Si nanowires enable a direct visualization of the charge cloud produced by photoexcitation at a localized spot as it spreads along the nanowire axis. The time-resolved images show clear evidence of rapid diffusional spreading and recombination of the free carriers, which is consistent with ambipolar diffusion and a surface recombination velocity of ∼10(4) cm/s. The free carrier dynamics are followed by trap carrier migration on slower time scales.

Disentangling the Physical Processes Responsible for the Kinetic Complexity in Interfacial Electron Transfer of Excited Ru(II) Polypyridyl Dyes on TiO2

Interfacial electron transfer at titanium dioxide (TiO2) is investigated for a series of surface bound ruthenium-polypyridyl dyes whose metal-to-ligand charge-transfer state (MLCT) energetics are tuned through chemical modification. The 12 complexes are of the form Ru(II)(bpy-A)(L)2(2+), where bpy-A is a bipyridine ligand functionalized with phosphonate groups for surface attachment to TiO2. Functionalization of ancillary bipyridine ligands (L) enables the potential of the excited state Ru(III/)* couple, E(+/)*, in 0.1 M perchloric acid (HClO4(aq)) to be tuned from -0.69 to -1.03 V vs NHE. Each dye is excited by a 200 fs pulse of light in the visible region of the spectrum and probed with a time-delayed supercontiuum pulse (350-800 nm). Decay of the MLCT excited-state absorption at 376 nm is observed without loss of the ground-state bleach, which is a clear signature of electron injection and formation of the oxidized dye. The dye-dependent decays are biphasic with time constants in the 3-30 and 30-500 ps range. The slower injection rate constant for each dye is exponentially distributed relative to E(+/)*. The correlation between the exponentially diminishing density of TiO2 sub-band acceptor levels and injection rate is well described using Marcus-Gerischer theory, with the slower decay components being assigned to injection from the thermally equilibrated state and the faster components corresponding to injection from higher energy states within the (3)MLCT manifold. These results and detailed analyses incorporating molecular photophysics and semiconductor density of states measurements indicate that the multiexponential behavior that is often observed in interfacial injection studies is not due to sample heterogeneity. Rather, this work shows that the kinetic heterogeneity results from competition between excited-state relaxation and injection as the photoexcited dye relaxes through the (3)MLCT manifold to the thermally equilibrated state, underscoring the potential for a simple kinetic model to reproduce the complex kinetic behavior often observed at the interface of mesoporous metal oxide materials.

Imaging Charge Separation and Carrier Recombination in Nanowire p-i-n Junctions Using Ultrafast Microscopy

Silicon nanowires incorporating p-type/n-type (p-n) junctions have been introduced as basic building blocks for future nanoscale electronic components. Controlling charge flow through these doped nanostructures is central to their function, yet our understanding of this process is inferred from measurements that average over entire structures or integrate over long times. Here, we have used femtosecond pump-probe microscopy to directly image the dynamics of photogenerated charge carriers in silicon nanowires encoded with p-n junctions along the growth axis. Initially, motion is dictated by carrier-carrier interactions, resulting in diffusive spreading of the neutral electron-hole cloud. Charge separation occurs at longer times as the carrier distribution reaches the edges of the depletion region, leading to a persistent electron population in the n-type region. Time-resolved visualization of the carrier dynamics yields clear, direct information on fundamental drift, diffusion, and recombination processes in these systems, providing a powerful tool for understanding and improving materials for nanotechnology.

Competition Between Ultrafast Energy Flow and Electron Transfer in a Ru(II)-Loaded Polyfluorene Light-Harvesting Polymer

This Letter describes the synthesis and photophysical characterization of a Ru(II) assembly consisting of metal polypyridyl complexes linked together by a polyfluorene scaffold. Unlike many scaffolds incorporating saturated linkages, the conjugated polymer in this system acts as a functional light-harvesting component. Conformational disorder breaks the conjugation in the polymer backbone, resulting in a chain composed of many chromophore units, whose relative energies depend on the segment lengths. Photoexcitation of the polyfluorene by a femtosecond laser pulse results in the excitation of polyfluorene, which then undergoes direct energy transfer to the pendant Ru(II) complexes, producing Ru(II)* excited states within 500 fs after photoexcitation. Femtosecond transient absorption data show the presence of electron transfer from PF* to Ru(II) to form charge-separated (CS) products within 1-2 ps. The decay of the oxidized and reduced products, PF(+•) and Ru(I), through back electron transfer are followed using picosecond transient absorption methods.

Reversible Strain-Induced Electron–Hole Recombination in Silicon Nanowires Observed with Femtosecond Pump–Probe Microscopy

Strain-induced changes to the electronic structure of nanoscale materials provide a promising avenue for expanding the optoelectronic functionality of semiconductor nanostructures in device applications. Here we use pump-probe microscopy with femtosecond temporal resolution and submicron spatial resolution to characterize charge-carrier recombination and transport dynamics in silicon nanowires (NWs) locally strained by bending deformation. The electron-hole recombination rate increases with strain for values above a threshold of ∼1% and, in highly strained (∼5%) regions of the NW, increases 6-fold. The changes in recombination rate are independent of NW diameter and reversible upon reduction of the applied strain, indicating the effect originates from alterations to the NW bulk electronic structure rather than introduction of defects. The results highlight the strong relationship between strain, electronic structure, and charge-carrier dynamics in low-dimensional semiconductor systems, and we anticipate the results will assist the development of strain-enabled optoelectronic devices with indirect-bandgap materials such as silicon.

Frequency Modulated Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy of Ultrafast Energy Transfer in a Donor–Acceptor Copolymer

A Raman-pump frequency modulation scheme and an automated signal-processing algorithm are developed for improved collection of time-resolved femtosecond stimulated Raman spectra. Together, these two advancements remove the broad background signals endemic to FSRS measurements and retrieve signals with high sensitivity. We apply this frequency-modulated femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FM-FSRS) to the characterization of ultrafast energy transport in a copolymer comprised of polystyrene linked oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) donor and thiophene-benzothiadiazole acceptor chromophores. After photoexcitation of the donor, ultrafast energy transfer is monitored by the decay of donor vibrational modes and simultaneous growth of acceptor modes. The FM-FSRS method shows clear advantages in signal-to-noise levels, mitigation of artifact features, and ease of data processing over the conventional FSRS technique.

Screened Charge Carrier Transport in Methylammonium Lead Iodide Perovskite Thin Films

While organometal halide perovskites are promising for a variety of optoelectronic applications, the morphological and compositional defects introduced by solution processing techniques have hindered efforts at understanding their fundamental properties. To provide a detailed picture of the intrinsic carrier transport properties of methylammonium lead iodide without contributions from defects such as grain boundaries, we utilized pump-probe microscopy to measure diffusion in individual crystalline domains of a thin film. Direct imaging of carrier transport in 25 individual domains yields diffusivities between 0.74 and 1.77 cm2 s-1, demonstrating single-crystal-like, long-range transport characteristics in a thin film architecture. We also examine the effects of excitation density on carrier diffusivity, finding that transport is nearly independent of photoexcited carrier density between 6 × 1017 cm-3 and 4 × 1019 cm-3. Transport modeling of the observed density independence suggests that strong carrier-phonon scattering coupled with a large static relative permittivity is responsible for the unusual transport characteristics of methylammonium perovskite.

Perovskite Carrier Transport: Disentangling the Impacts of Effective Mass and Scattering Time Through Microscopic Optical Detection

While carrier mobility is a practical and commonly cited measure of transport, it conflates the effects of two more fundamental material properties: the effective mass and mean scattering time of charge carriers. This Letter describes the correlation of two ultrafast imaging techniques to disentangle the effect of each on carrier transport in lead halide perovskites. Two materials are compared: methylammonium lead tri-iodide (MAPbI3) and cesium lead bromide diiodide (CsPbBrI2). By correlating photoinduced changes to the refractive index with a direct measure of carrier diffusion, both the carrier optical mass and mean scattering time are uniquely determined on microscopic length scales. These results show that the factor of 4 lower mobility of CsPbBrI2 is due not to differing optical masses of charge carriers, which are measured to be similar in CsPbBrI2 and MAPbI3, but rather to a difference in mean carrier scattering time. The scope and limitations of the approach are discussed.

Probing Intrawire, Interwire, and Diameter-Dependent Variations in Silicon Nanowire Surface Trap Density with Pump–Probe Microscopy

Surface trap density in silicon nanowires (NWs) plays a key role in the performance of many semiconductor NW-based devices. We use pump-probe microscopy to characterize the surface recombination dynamics on a point-by-point basis in 301 silicon NWs grown using the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method. The surface recombination velocity (S), a metric of the surface quality that is directly proportional to trap density, is determined by the relationship S = d/4τ from measurements of the recombination lifetime (τ) and NW diameter (d) at distinct spatial locations in individual NWs. We find that S varies by as much as 2 orders of magnitude between NWs grown at the same time but varies only by a factor of 2 or three within an individual NW. Although we find that, as expected, smaller-diameter NWs exhibit shorter τ, we also find that smaller wires exhibit higher values of S; this indicates that τ is shorter both because of the geometrical effect of smaller d and because of a poorer quality surface. These results highlight the need to consider interwire heterogeneity as well as diameter-dependent surface effects when fabricating NW-based devices.

Visualization of Charge Carrier Motion in Semiconductor Nanowires with Ultrafast Pump-Probe Microscopy

Femtosecond pump-probe microscopy is used to directly visualize the diffusion of photogenerated charge carriers in undoped silicon nanowires, as well as charge separation in a nanowire encoded with an axial p-type/intrinsic/n-type (p-i-n) junction.