Controlled organic functionalization of the Si(001) surface may play an important role in the efforts towards further miniaturization of silicon based electronic devices. The first step of such an organic functionalization in terms of organic molecular layer deposition on Si(001) would be the chemoselective adsorption of bifunctional molecules on silicon: whereas one functionality binds to the surface, the other stays intact for the attachment of further layers. This task, however, is complicated by the high reactivity of the dangling bonds with respect to almost all organic functional groups. As a consequence, bifunctional organic molecules typically react via both functional groups on the silicon surface. We solved this problem using cyclooctyne as the main building block of our strategy. The strained triple bond of cyclooctyne reacts via a direct reaction channel, in contrast to most other organic functional groups, which react on Si(001) via a metastable intermediate. This makes the latter ones effectively unreactive in competition with the direct pathway of cyclooctyne’s strained triple bond [1].

In this work, we focus on the preparation of a functionalized organic layer on Si(001) using an alkyne-functionalized cyclooctyne, i.e., ethynyl-cyclopropyl-cyclooctyne (ECCO). If the ECCO molecule binds chemoselectively to the silicon substrate via cyclooctyne’s strained triple bond, the terminal, linear triple bond of the ECCO molecule can be employed for the attachment of the second layer of molecules, e.g., via alkyne-azide coupling. We first show that the linear triple bond follows an indirect reaction pathway via a weakly bound intermediate. XPS and STM results then clearly indicate that ECCO adsorbs selectively on Si(001) via a [2+2] cycloaddition of cyclooctyne’s strained triple bond. No indication for a reaction via the ethynyl group was detected. This chemoselectivity was observed for all coverages, starting from the isolated molecules up to saturation coverage of one monolayer [2]. The ECCO molecules can thus form an organic functionalization of the Si(001) surface which can be used for controlled attachment of further molecular layers.

[1] Reutzel, et al., J. Phys. Chem. C 120 26284 (2016).

[2] C. Länger, et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 31 034001 (2019).

Vapor Phase Infiltration (VPI) is a processing method for transforming polymers into organic-inorganic hybrid materials. During VPI, a polymer is exposed to vapor-phase metalorganic precursors that sorb, diffuse, and react within the bulk of the polymer to create new hybrid materials. VPI has been shown to modify properties such as the mechanical strength of spider silk, the thermal and UV degradation resistance of Kevlar, and the fluorescence of polyester. This study aims to better understand how VPI can change textile properties for industrial applications and the durability of these changes. To this end, polyester fabrics were treated with trimethylaluminum (TMA) and co-reacted with water in a custom-built vacuum chamber. The temperature of the treatment process was varied from 60˚C to 140˚C to establish a relationship between processing temperature, physiochemical structure, and material properties. Using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), these infiltrated fabrics were found to have inorganic loadings between 5 and 8 weight percent, with a maximum inorganic loading at 100 °C (Figure 1). These results are consistent with our current understanding of precursor / polymer sorption thermodynamics and indicate that processing temperature can be used to control the loading of inorganics through both the diffusion rate and the sorption equilibrium. To examine the durability of this inorganic loading, wash fastness testing at 100˚C for 90 minutes followed by TGA and SEM/EDX was used to determine the effects of high temperature wash cycles. These tests demonstrated that the inorganic loading remains even after intense laundering (Figure 2). To further characterize the durability of VPI treatment, known changes due to the VPI process were compared before and after washing. In particular, mechanical properties, fluorescence, and thermal degradation behavior were investigated. This talk will explore the wash-fastness of VPI treatments of polyester at different processing temperatures and the retention of enhanced properties relevant to the textile industry.

In recent years, organic lead halide perovskite materials have attracted much attention due to their outstanding optoelectric properties and low manufacturing cost. To improve the stability of perovskite solar cells, inorganic CsPbI₃ perovskite has been demonstrated as promising material for solar cells owing to the superb photoelectronic property and composition stability. However, the low stability of perovskite phase CsPbI₃ (α-phase) with an appropriate band gap under ambient environment hinders its practical application.

Here, we investigate new ways of synthesizing inorganic perovskite materials and optimizing the device stability through dimensional engineering. we tailor the three-dimension CsPbI₃ perovskite into quasi-two-dimensional Cs_xPEA_1-xPbI₃ perovskite, where an optimal Cs_xPEA_1-xPbI₃ film remains stable in α phase up to 250℃. Moreover, we further present an in-depth investigation of the so-called stable ‘α-CsPbI₃,’ especially the starting material hydrogen lead trihalide (HPbI₃, also known as PbI₂∙xHI) that is usually used for synthesizing α-CsPbI₃. We notice that the “mythical” HPbI₃, the often-assumed reaction product of HI and PbI₂, does not actually exist. Instead, adding acid to DMF is known to generate a weak base dimethylamine (DMA) through hydrolysis, and with the presence of PbI₂ the actual final product is believed to be a compound of DMAPbI₃. Our findings offer new insights into producing inorganic perovskite materials, and lead to further understanding in perovskite materials for solar cells with improved efficiency and stability.

Hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites have emerged as an important class of optoelectronic materials with potential applications in photovoltaics and light emitting devices. One of the challenges in forming thin films of halide perovskites is controlling stoichiometry and morphology. We have designed and built a carrier-gas assisted vapor deposition (CGAVD) system capable of depositing halide perovskite thin films (e.g., CH₃NH₃SnI_xBr_3-x) with independent control over their stoichiometry and morphology. In our CGAVD system, an inert carrier gas (N₂) transports sublimed material vapors through a hot-walled chamber to a cooled substrate where they selectively condense and/or react. By separately controlling the precursor sublimation rate, via source temperature, and the transport rate to the substrate, via carrier gas flow rate, we realize fine control of species flux at the substrate and successfully co-deposit materials with very different vapor pressures (e.g. CH₃NH₃Br,SnBr₂). Four additional independent parameters (dilution gas flow, chamber pressure, gas temperature, and substrate temperature) can be varied to access a wide range of deposition conditions and film morphologies with controlled stoichiometry. To navigate the vast parameter space of CGAVD, we use an experimentally validated transport and reaction model, which informs the deposition parameter selections. We find that repeatable and spatially uniform deposition requires operating in a regime where solid source material is at equilibrium with its vapor and convective transport determines the flux of species arriving at the substrate. Importantly, we find that films grown using CGAVD have a stoichiometric “self-correcting” and robust operation window, wherein excess precursor flux during co-deposition is rejected from the film and a phase-pure perovskite film results. This is practically advantageous as it relaxes the need for balancing precursor fluxes exactly during co-deposition. We demonstrate the growth of CH₃NH₃SnI_xBr_3-x thin films with a wide range of stoichiometries and morphologies. Specifically, by tuning the source material temperature (140 °C – 290 °C), the carrier gas flow rate (2 sccm – 100 sccm), the substrate temperature (8 °C – 70 °C), and the chamber pressure (350 mTorr – 10 Torr), we realize corresponding changes in grain orientation and grain size from <100 nm to over 1 μm. CGAVD is a promising approach to deposition of other halide perovskites and can potentially enable the growth of previously inaccessible morphologies and multi-layer perovskite films.

The performance (i.e., light harvesting, optical gain or emission outputs) of many optoelectronics devices (i.e., lasers, photovoltaics (PVs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), etc.) critically depends on the ability to deposit solution processed nanocrystals (NCs) into well-organized, close-packed solids with high photoluminescence quantum yields (PL QYs) and the long term stability of NC films. However, irrespective of the high quality of NCs or the passivation techniques used in solution, the deposition of NC multilayers as well as the exposure to the environment during solid state device fabrication often require or lead to changes in the NCs chemical environment, such as exchange/loss of ligands, which eventually lead to formation of trap states that decrease the PL QYs of NCs and are often detrimental to device performances. An attractive approach to protect the NCs’ integrity is the use of atomic layer deposition (ALD) in which self-limiting surface reactions of the precursors allows conformal growth of the metal oxide layer with precise thickness control to encapsulate NCs. This process, though prevents the deterioration of NCs, is observed to decrease their PLQY significantly. To mitigate this issue, we recently developed an alternate gas phase deposition technique where a pulsed co-deposition of both metal and oxidant precursors at room temperature (RT) (reminiscent of chemical vapor deposition, CVD) is able to deposit uniform metal oxide (AlO_x) films, originating from gas-phase reactions in the immediate vicinity of the NC layer. Unlike conventional ALD, this method is observed to preserve the optical properties, e.g., PLQY and lifetime of metal chalcogenide NCs film. With this new approach, we investigate the encapsulation of hybrid metal halide perovskite NCs, which have been at the forefront of recent optoelectronic materials research due to their high absorption coefficients, high charge carrier mobilities, balanced ambipolar transport properties, and easy solution processability. However, in spite of the exceptional upsurge in the lab scale device efficiency of perovskites in a remarkably short time frame, the practical application of the same in real world is restricted by their inherent instability. AlO_x deposition on perovskite nanocrystals with our modified approach not only retains the optical properties of the NCs, but also improves them, even at a single particle level, which paves the way for unique optoelectronic opportunities.