Anatase TiO2-A Model System for Large Polaron Transport

Polaronic Nonlinear Optical Response and All-Optical Switching Based on an Ionic Metal Oxide

It has been well-established that light-matter interactions, as manifested by diverse linear and nonlinear optical (NLO) processes, are mediated by real and virtual particles, such as electrons, phonons, and excitons. Polarons, often regarded as electrons dressed by phonons, are known to contribute to exotic behaviors of solids, from superconductivity to photocatalysis, while their role in materials' NLO response remains largely unexplored. Here, the NLO response mediated by polarons supported by a model ionic metal oxide, TiO2, is examined. It is observed that the formation of polaronic states within the bandgap results in a dramatic enhancement of NLO absorption coefficient by over 130 times for photon energies in the sub-bandgap regions, characterized by a 100 fs scale ultrafast response that is typical for thermalized electrons in metals. The ultrafast polaronic NLO response is then exploited for the development of all-optical switches for ultrafast pulse generation in near-infrared (NIR) fiber lasers and modulation of optical signal in the telecommunication band based on evanescent interaction on a planar waveguide chip. These results suggest that the polarons supported by dielectric ionic oxides can fill the gaps left by dielectric and metallic materials and serve as a novel platform for nonlinear photonic applications.

Atomic-scale manipulation of single-polaron in a two-dimensional semiconductor

Polaron is a composite quasiparticle derived from an excess carrier trapped by local lattice distortion, and it has been studied extensively for decades both theoretically and experimentally. However, atomic-scale creation and manipulation of single-polarons in real space have still not been achieved so far, which precludes the atomistic understanding of the properties of polarons as well as their applications. Herein, using scanning tunneling microscopy, we succeeded to create single polarons in a monolayer two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor, CoCl₂. Combined with first-principles calculations, two stable polaron configurations, centered at atop and hollow sites, respectively, have been revealed. Remarkably, a series of manipulation progresses - from creation, erasure, to transition - can be accurately implemented on individual polarons. Our results pave the way to understand the physics of polaron at atomic level, and the easy control of single polarons in 2D semiconductor may open the door to 2D polaronics including the data storage.

Nonadiabatic Dynamics of Polaron Hopping and Coupling with Water on Reduced TiO2

By interplay between first-principles molecular dynamics and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations based on the decoherence-induced surface-hopping approach, we investigate and quantify the mechanisms through which different electron polaron hopping regimes in the reduced anatase TiO₂(101) surface influence recombination of photogenerated charge carriers, also in the presence of adsorbed water (H₂O) molecules. The simulations reveal that fast hopping regimes promote ultrafast recombination of photogenerated charge-carriers. Conversely, charge recombination is delayed in the presence of slower polaron hopping and even more so if the polaron is pinned at one Ti-site, as typical following adsorption of H₂O on the anatase(101) surface. These trends are related to the observed enhancement of the space and energy overlap between conduction band minimum and polaron band gap states, and the ensuing nonadiabatic couplings (NAC) strengths, during a polaronic hop. We expect these insights on the beneficial role of polaron diffusion pinning for the extended lifetime of photoexcitations in TiO₂ to sustain ongoing developments of photocatalytic strategies based on this substrate.

Impact of the polar optical phonon and alloy scattering on the charge-carrier mobilities of FA0.83Cs0.17Pb(I1-xBrx)3 hybrid perovskites

Lead mixed-halide perovskites are promising absorption materials that are suitable for applications in tandem solar cells using existing silicon technology. Charge-carrier mobility is an important factor that affects the performance of tandem solar cells. However, a detailed understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of lead mixed-halide perovskites remains elusive. Here, we used LO (longitudinal optical) phonons and alloy scattering to the elucidate charge-carrier mobilities in the FA_0.83Cs_0.17Pb(I_1-xBr_x)₃ hybrid perovskite system. It was found that these scattering mechanisms provided very good quantitative agreement with the experimental results, between 11-40 cm² V^-1 s^-1. Our findings provide new insights into charge transport scattering in lead mixed-halide hybrid perovskites and pave the way toward design of novel semiconductor alloys for solar cell applications.

Dynamics of Photoexcited Small Polarons in Transition-Metal Oxides

The dynamics of photoexcited polarons in transition-metal oxides (TMOs), including their formation, migration, and quenching, plays an important role in photocatalysis and photovoltaics. Taking rutile TiO₂ as a prototypical system, we use ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the dynamics of small polarons induced by photoexcitation at different temperatures. The photoexcited electron is trapped by the distortion of the surrounding lattice and forms a small polaron within tens of femtoseconds. Polaron migration among Ti atoms is strongly correlated with quenching through an electron-hole (e-h) recombination process. At low temperature, the polaron is localized on a single Ti atom and polaron quenching occurs within several nanoseconds. At increased temperature, as under solar cell operating conditions, thermal phonon excitation stimulates the hopping and delocalization of polarons, which induces fast polaron quenching through the e-h recombination within 200 ps. Our study proves that e-h recombination centers can be formed by photoexcited polarons, which provides new insights to understand the efficiency bottleneck of photocatalysis and photovoltaics in TMOs.

Formation of Plasmonic Polarons in Highly Electron-Doped Anatase TiO2

The existence of various quasiparticles of polarons because of electron-boson couplings plays important roles in determining electron transport in titanium dioxide (TiO₂), which affects a wealth of physical properties from catalysis to interfacial superconductivity. In addition to the well-defined Fröhlich polarons whose electrons are dressed by the phonon clouds, it has been theoretically predicted that electrons can also couple to their own plasmonic oscillations, namely, the plasmonic polarons. Here we experimentally demonstrate the formation of plasmonic polarons in highly doped anatase TiO₂ using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our results show that the energy separation of plasmon-loss satellites follows a dependence on √n, where n is the electron density, manifesting the characteristic of plasmonic polarons. The spectral functions enable to quantitatively evaluate the strengths of electron-plasmon and electron-phonon couplings, respectively, providing an effective approach for characterizing the interplays among different bosonic modes in the complicate many-body interactions.

Surface polaron states on single-crystal rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays enhancing charge separation and transfer

Polaron states on TiO2 photoanodes provide an important electron transfer pathway at the electrode-electrolyte interface. Here, we electrochemically doped single-crystal rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays with exposed (110) facets to produce surface polaron states, Ti3+-OH, which greatly contributed to charge separation and transfer. Our results experimentally clarified the previously confused understanding of the origin of improved photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting performance and verified that the enhanced PEC effects mainly arise from surface polaron states instead of grain boundary passivation.

Water-Hydrogen-Polaron Coupling at Anatase TiO2(101) Surfaces: A Hybrid Density Functional Theory Study

Defects and water generally coexist on the surfaces of reducible metal oxides for heterogeneous photocatalysis in aqueous environments, which makes quantification and understanding of their coupling essential for development of practical solutions. Here we explore and quantify the coupling between water (H₂O)- and hydrogen (H)-induced electron-polarons on the TiO₂ anatase (101) surface by means of first-principles simulations. Without H₂O, the hydrogen-induced electron-polaron localizes preferentially around the energetically favored subsurface H site. Its hopping barrier to neighboring sites in the subsurface is about 0.29 eV. Conversely, following H₂O adsorption, surface trapping of the electron-polaron becomes energetically favored, and the diffusion barrier from subsurface to surface decreases by 0.15 eV. H₂O adsorption is shown to be effective in decreasing the proton diffusion energy barrier within the same layer by reducing the polaron-proton coupling and promoting diffusion toward the subsurface in line with a recent experimental observation on water-dispersed anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles.