Photoactive Ionically Bonded Organic Metal Halide Hybrids

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

Non-technical Description New functional materials are one of the keys to the advancement of technologies useful for our daily life. Organic metal halide hybrids, in which organic and metal halide ions form ionically bonded single crystals, are an emerging class of functional materials that have potential applications in many areas, such as light emitting diodes and radiation detectors. In this project, supported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research, Prof. Biwu Ma and his research team aim to develop and study new organic metal halide hybrids with unique crystalline structures. The team will focus on “zero-dimensional structures” which possess diverse and unique chemical and physical properties. The expected outcomes of this project include fundamental understanding and ability of controlling matter and material processes at the atomic/molecular level, as well as macroscopic functional properties of hybrid materials. Various educational and outreach activities are integrated in this project, for instance, (i) promoting multidisciplinary research education and training to graduates and undergraduate students, in particular those from underrepresented groups; (ii) involving K-12 students and general public through summer young scholar programs, scientific exhibitions, etc. Technical Description Organic-inorganic metal halide hybrid materials have attracted great research attention for their remarkable and useful optical and electronic properties with applications in a variety of areas. In addition to the well-known three-dimensional (3D) halide perovskite structure, organic metal halide hybrids can have many other crystallographic structures, in which metal halide units, for instance, metal halide octahedrons, form zero- (0D), one- (1D), two- dimensional (2D) structures. These low dimensional hybrid materials exhibit unique and remarkable properties that are completely different from those of 3D metal halide perovskites. This project, supported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research, aims to advance the research on organic metal halide hybrids, through designing and synthesizing new 0D organic metal halide hybrids via various synthetic approaches, gaining better fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships, and exploring material integration with potential technological innovations. Unlike previous efforts mainly focusing on single component systems containing insulating organic cations, the research team investigates multicomponent systems that contain various types of organic components (both insulating and semiconducting) and metal halides (both molecular species and multinuclear clusters). These 0D organic metal halide hybrids serve as a powerful platform to unlock the hidden properties of both organic and metal halide species, and study important physical phenomena and processes, including electronic band formation, exciton-lattice coupling, charge/energy transfer, excited state structural reorganization of metal halides, as well as the dependence of the properties of organic molecules on their molecular packings. The exploration of their applications in various types of devices, such as X-ray scintillators and detectors, leads to new opportunities for hybrid materials. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.