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The light-soaking effect is the observation that under constant illumination the measured power conversion efficiency of certain solar cells changes as a function of time. The theory of the light-soaking in metal halide perovskites is at present incomplete. In this report, we employ steady-state microwave conductivity, a contactless probe of electronic properties of semiconductors, to study the light-soaking effect in metal halide perovskites. By illuminating isolated thin films of two mixed-cation perovskites with AM1.5 solar illumination, we observe a continual increase in photoconductance over a period of many (>12) hours. We can fit the experimentally observed changes in photoconductance to a stretched exponential function, in an analogous manner to bias-stressed thin-film transistors. The information provided in this report should help the community better understand one of the most perplexing open problems in the field of perovskite solar cells and, ultimately, lead to more robust and predictable devices. The light soaking effect is when the power conversion efficiency of a solar cell changes over time while the illumination remains constant. Here, the authors investigate the underlying mechanisms of the light soaking effect in metal halide perovskites using steady-state microwave conductivity. Under constant illumination they observe an increase in photoconductance over many hours.

Stable perovskites with ionic salts Ionic liquids have been shown to stabilize organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells with metal oxide carrier-transport layers, but they are incompatible with more readily processible organic analogs. Lin et al. found that an ionic solid, a piperidinium salt, enhanced the efficiency of positive-intrinsic-negative layered perovskite solar cells with organic electron and hole extraction layers. Aggressive aging testing showed that this additive retarded segregation into impurity phases and pinhole formation in the perovskite layer. Science , this issue p. 96

Carbon nanotubes continue to be model systems for studies of confinement and interactions. This is particularly true in the case of so-called "ultra-clean" carbon nanotube devices offering the study of quantum dots with extremely low disorder. The quality of such systems, however, has increasingly revealed glaring discrepancies between experiment and theory. Here we address the outstanding anomaly of exceptionally large orbital magnetic moments in carbon nanotube quantum dots. We perform low temperature magneto-transport measurements of the orbital magnetic moment and find it is up to seven times larger than expected from the conventional semiclassical model. Moreover, the magnitude of the magnetic moment monotonically drops with the addition of each electron to the quantum dot directly contradicting the widely accepted shell filling picture of single-particle levels. We carry out quasiparticle calculations, both from first principles and within the effective-mass approximation, and find the giant magnetic moments can only be captured by considering a self-energy correction to the electronic band structure due to electron-electron interactions., Comment: 15 pages and 10 figures including supplemental materials

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a promising material for high-performance electronics beyond silicon. But unlike silicon, the nature of the transport band gap in CNTs is not fully understood. The transport gap in CNTs is predicted to be strongly driven by electron-electron (e-e) interactions and correlations, even at room temperature. Here, we use dielectric liquids to screen e-e interactions in individual suspended ultra-clean CNTs. Using multiple techniques, the transport gap is measured as dielectric screening is increased. Changing the dielectric environment from air to isopropanol, we observe a 25% reduction in the transport gap of semiconducting CNTs, and a 32% reduction in the band gap of narrow-gap CNTs. Additional measurements are reported in dielectric oils. Our results elucidate the nature of the transport gap in CNTs, and show that dielectric environment offers a mechanism for significant control over the transport band gap., Comment: Updates in this version: Additional comparison between theory and experiment, including band gap renormalization calculations for narrow gap CNTs compared to wide-gap CNTs

We utilize photoconductivity spectroscopy to identify the unique chiral structure of individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Peaks in photo- conductivity are measured throughout the visible and near-IR wavelength ranges. Photoconductivity peaks associated with individual CNTs are referenced against existing Rayleigh scattering measurements to uniquely identify chiral indices. We find close agreement between our assigned exciton resonances and the previously published exciton resonances. The typical net energy mismatch is ≤20 meV. By enabling chiral identification of CNTs after the completion of device fabrication, the technique offers a facile method for investigating relationships between CNT structure and electronic/optoelectronic properties.

We study photocurrent generation in individual suspended carbon nanotube p–n junctions using spectrally resolved scanning photocurrent microscopy. Spatial maps of the photocurrent allow us to determine the length of the p–n junction intrinsic region, as well as the role of the n-type Schottky barrier. We show that reverse-bias operation eliminates complications caused by the n-type Schottky barrier and increases the length of the intrinsic region. The absorption cross-section of the CNT is calculated using an empirically verified model, and the effect of substrate reflection is determined using FDTD simulations. We find that the room temperature photocurrent quantum yield is approximately 30% when exciting the carbon nanotube at the S44 and S55 excitonic transitions. The quantum yield value is an order of magnitude larger than previous estimates.

PN junctions in nanoscale materials are of interest for a range of technologies including photodetectors, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. However, Schottky barriers at the interface between metal contacts and the nanomaterial are often unavoidable. The effect of metal-semiconductor interfaces on the behavior of nanoscale diodes must be understood, both to extract the characteristics of the pn junction, and to understand the overall characteristics of the final device. Here, we study the current-voltage characteristics of diodes that are formed in fully suspended carbon nanotubes (CNTs). We utilize tunable Schottky barrier heights at the CNT-metal interface to elucidate the role of the Schottky barriers on the device characteristics. We develop a quantitative model to show how a variety of device characteristics can arise from apparently similar devices. Using our model we extract key parameters of the Schottky barriers and the pn junction, and predict the overall I-V characteristics of the device....

We have performed scanning photocurrent microscopy measurements of field-effect transistors (FETs) made from individual ultraclean suspended carbon nanotubes (CNTs). We investigate the spatial-dependence, polarization-dependence, and gate-dependence of photocurrent and photovoltage in this system. While previous studies of surface-bound CNT FET devices have identified the photovoltaic effect as the primary mechanism of photocurrent generation, our measurements show that photothermoelectric phenomena play a critical role in the optoelectronic properties of suspended CNT FETs. We have quantified the photothermoelectric mechanisms and identified regimes where they overwhelm the photovoltaic mechanism.