Lone Pair Engineering for Multi-Functional Polar Semiconductors
Invited presentation at Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society (#f18mrs). In "Symposium EP01—New Materials and Applications of Piezoelectric, Pyroelectric and Ferroelectric Materials"
Multi- Functional Polar Semiconductors Materials Design Group: https://wmd-group.github.io @lonepair Prof. Aron Walsh Imperial College London, UK Yonsei University, Korea
off-centric coordination environments and high polarisability Piezoelectric, Ferroelectric, Multiferroic, Ion Transport, Gas Sensing, Photocatalytic, Photovoltaic, Thermoelectric SnSe Pb3 O4 BiFeO3
are linked to stereochemical activity of an s2 lone pair N. V. Sidgwick (1929); L. E. Orgel, J. Chem. Soc. 0, 3815 (1959) “s2–p0 mixing results in an instability with respect to antisymmetric distortions”
oxidation state N or N-2 Oxidation states and ionicity, Nature Materials 17, 958 (2018) 5s0p0: Sn(IV)O2 Wide bandgap n-type semiconductor 5s2p0: Sn(II)O Small bandgap p-type semiconductor
the lone pair may be active or inactive: anion effect A. Walsh and G. W. Watson, J. Sol. Stat. Chem. 178, 1422 (2005) 6s2p0: Pb(II)O Layered litharge structure 6s2p0: Pb(II)S Rocksalt structure Self-consistent electron density (DFT/PBE) [from my PhD thesis !]
the valence band with anti-bonding combination close to the Fermi level A. Walsh and G. W. Watson, J. Sol. Stat. Chem. 178, 1422 (2005) Partial electron density slices (E relative to highest occupied band) (Pb 6s + O 2p) O 2p (Pb 6s + O 2p)* - 7 eV - 3 eV - 1 eV Pb O O O O
spectroscopies (XPS, XES, XAS) led by Russ Edgell (Oxford) D. J. Payne et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 157403 (2006) DFT/PBE PbO – valence band O 2p O 2p Pb 6s (Pb 6s + O 2p) (Pb 6s + O 2p)* Note: Interaction strength depends on metal s–anion p separation
Phys. Rev. 87, 387 (1952) Carrier Capture in Optoelectronics SRH analysis: mid-gap defects are most active Beyond: defects levels are not fixed, but vary with the charge state. Non- radiative recombination is a multi-level phonon-emission process
Phys. 44 1251 (1981) What characteristics give rise to efficient carrier trapping and recombination? 1. Cascade: Closely-spaced bound electronic states (e.g. Ni in GaP) 2. Resonance: Favourable vibrational states (e.g. C2 in Si) 3. Coupling: strong electron-lattice interaction (e.g. vacancies)
Energy Letters 3, 496 (2018); arXiv 1810.11259 (2018) In Sn(IV) containing semiconductors, electron capture to Sn(III) and Sn(II) is efficient Multi-valency: Carrier localisation and large amplitude lattice distortion Lone pair state of Sn associated with S loss in Cu2 ZnSnS4 solar cells
conductivity (effective masses) • No global understanding of structure control, e.g. polar transitions, emphanisis (symmetry breaking), or carrier capture Slides: https://speakerdeck.com/aronwalsh Thanks to group, in particular Kazuki Morita, Sunghyun Kim, Liam Harnett; collaborators including Andreas Kafizas, James Durrant (ICL), Russ Egdell (Oxford), Ram Seshadri (UCSB)