Diamond surface functionalization via visible light-driven C-H activation for nanoscale quantum sensing

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a promising platform for nanoscale NMR sensing. Despite significant progress toward using NV centers to detect and localize nuclear spins down to the single spin level, NV-based spectroscopy of individual, intact, arbitrary target molecules remains elusive. Such sensing requires that target molecules are immobilized within nanometers of NV centers with long spin coherence. The inert nature of diamond typically requires harsh functionalization techniques such as thermal annealing or plasma processing, limiting the scope of functional groups that can be attached to the surface. Solution-phase chemical methods can be readily generalized to install diverse functional groups, but they have not been widely explored for single-crystal diamond surfaces. Moreover, realizing shallow NV centers with long spin coherence times requires highly ordered single-crystal surfaces, and solution-phase functionalization has not yet been shown with such demanding conditions. In this work, we report a versatile strategy to directly functionalize C-H bonds on single-crystal diamond surfaces under ambient conditions using visible light, forming C-F, C-Cl, C-S, and C-N bonds at the surface. This method is compatible with NV centers within 10 nm of the surface with spin coherence times comparable to the state of the art. As a proof-of-principle demonstration, we use shallow ensembles of NV centers to detect nuclear spins from surface-bound functional groups. Our approach to surface functionalization opens the door to deploying NV centers as a tool for chemical sensing and single-molecule spectroscopy.

The Role of Electrolytes in the Relaxation of Near-Surface Spin Defects in Diamond

Quantum sensing with spin defects in diamond, such as the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center, enables the detection of various chemical species on the nanoscale. Molecules or ions with unpaired electronic spins are typically probed by their influence on the NV center's spin relaxation. Whereas it is well-known that paramagnetic ions reduce the NV center's relaxation time (T₁), here we report on the opposite effect for diamagnetic ions. We demonstrate that millimolar concentrations of aqueous diamagnetic electrolyte solutions increase the T₁ time of near-surface NV center ensembles compared to pure water. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of this surprising effect, single and double quantum NV experiments are performed, which indicate a reduction of magnetic and electric noise in the presence of diamagnetic electrolytes. In combination with ab initio simulations, we propose that a change in the interfacial band bending due to the formation of an electric double layer leads to a stabilization of fluctuating charges at the interface of an oxidized diamond. This work not only helps to understand noise sources in quantum systems but could also broaden the application space of quantum sensors toward electrolyte sensing in cell biology, neuroscience, and electrochemistry.

Benchmarking DFT Functionals for Excited-State Calculations of Donor-Acceptor TADF Emitters: Insights on the Key Parameters Determining Reverse Inter-System Crossing

The importance of intermediate triplet states and the nature of excited states has gained interest in recent years for the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) mechanism. It is widely accepted that simple conversion between charge transfer (CT) triplet and singlet excited states is too crude, and a more complex route involving higher-lying locally excited triplet excited states has to be invoked to witness the magnitude of the rate of reverse inter-system crossing (RISC) rates. The increased complexity has challenged the reliability of computational methods to accurately predict the relative energy between excited states as well as their nature. Here, we compare the results of widely used density functional theory (DFT) functionals, CAM-B3LYP, LC-ωPBE, LC-ω*PBE, LC-ω*HPBE, B3LYP, PBE0, and M06-2X, against a wavefunction-based reference method, Spin-Component Scaling second-order approximate Coupled Cluster (SCS-CC2), in 14 known TADF emitters possessing a diversity of chemical structures. Overall, the use of the Tamm-Dancoff Approximation (TDA) together with CAM-B3LYP, M06-2X, and the two ω-tuned range-separated functionals LC-ω*PBE and LC-ω*HPBE demonstrated the best agreement with SCS-CC2 calculations in predicting the absolute energy of the singlet S₁, and triplet T₁ and T₂ excited states and their energy differences. However, consistently across the series and irrespective of the functional or the use of TDA, the nature of T₁ and T₂ is not as accurately captured as compared to S₁. We also investigated the impact of the optimization of S₁ and T₁ excited states on ΔE_ST and the nature of these states for three different functionals (PBE0, CAM-B3LYP, and M06-2X). We observed large changes in ΔE_ST using CAM-B3LYP and PBE0 functionals associated with a large stabilization of T₁ with CAM-B3LYP and a large stabilization of S₁ with PBE0, while ΔE_ST is much less affected considering the M06-2X functional. The nature of the S₁ state barely evolves after geometry optimization essentially because this state is CT by nature for the three functionals tested. However, the prediction of the T₁ nature is more problematic since these functionals for some compounds interpret the nature of T₁ very differently. SCS-CC2 calculations on top of the TDA-DFT optimized geometries lead to a large variation in terms of ΔE_ST and the excited-state nature depending on the chosen functionals, further stressing the large dependence of the excited-state features on the excited-state geometries. The presented work highlights that despite good agreement of energies, the description of the exact nature of the triplet states should be undertaken with caution.

Controlled Surface Modification to Revive Shallow NV- Centers

Near-surface negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers hold excellent promise for nanoscale magnetic imaging and quantum sensing. However, they often experience charge-state instabilities, leading to strongly reduced fluorescence and NV coherence time, which negatively impact magnetic imaging sensitivity. This occurs even more severely at 4 K and ultrahigh vacuum (UHV, p = 2 × 10^-10 mbar). We demonstrate that in situ adsorption of H₂O on the diamond surface allows the partial recovery of the shallow NV sensors. Combining these with band-bending calculations, we conclude that controlled surface treatments are essential for implementing NV-based quantum sensing protocols under cryogenic UHV conditions.

Training a neural network to predict dynamics it has never seen

Neural networks have proven to be remarkably successful for a wide range of complicated tasks, from image recognition and object detection to speech recognition and machine translation. One of their successes lies in their ability to predict future dynamics given a suitable training data set. Previous studies have shown how echo state networks (ESNs), a type of recurrent neural networks, can successfully predict both short-term and long-term dynamics of even chaotic systems. This study shows that, remarkably, ESNs can successfully predict dynamical behavior that is qualitatively different from any behavior contained in their training set. Evidence is provided for a fluid dynamics problem where the flow can transition between laminar (ordered) and turbulent (seemingly disordered) regimes. Despite being trained on the turbulent regime only, ESNs are found to predict the existence of laminar behavior. Moreover, the statistics of turbulent-to-laminar and laminar-to-turbulent transitions are also predicted successfully. The utility of ESNs in acting as early-warning generators for transition is discussed. These results are expected to be widely applicable to data-driven modeling of temporal behavior in a range of physical, climate, biological, ecological, and finance models characterized by the presence of tipping points and sudden transitions between several competing states.

Toward Large-Scale Restricted Active Space Calculations Inspired by the Schmidt Decomposition

We present an alternative, memory-efficient, Schmidt decomposition-based description of the inherently bipartite restricted active space (RAS) scheme, which can be implemented effortlessly within the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method via the dynamically extended active space procedure. Benchmark calculations are compared against state-of-the-art results of C₂ and Cr₂, which are notorious for their multireference character. Our results for ground and excited states together with spectroscopic constants demonstrate that the proposed novel approach, dubbed as DMRG-RAS, which is variational and free of uncontrolled method errors, has the potential to outperfom conventional methods for strongly correlated molecules.

Dielectric control of reverse intersystem crossing in thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence enables organic semiconductors with charge transfer-type excitons to convert dark triplet states into bright singlets via reverse intersystem crossing. However, thus far, the contribution from the dielectric environment has received insufficient attention. Here we study the role of the dielectric environment in a range of thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials with varying changes in dipole moment upon optical excitation. In dipolar emitters, we observe how environmental reorganization after excitation triggers the full charge transfer exciton formation, minimizing the singlet-triplet energy gap, with the emergence of two (reactant-inactive) modes acting as a vibrational fingerprint of the charge transfer product. In contrast, the dielectric environment plays a smaller role in less dipolar materials. The analysis of energy-time trajectories and their free-energy functions reveals that the dielectric environment substantially reduces the activation energy for reverse intersystem crossing in dipolar thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters, increasing the reverse intersystem crossing rate by three orders of magnitude versus the isolated molecule.

Modeling of Multiresonant Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters─Properly Accounting for Electron Correlation Is Key!

With the surge of interest in multiresonant thermally activated delayed fluorescent (MR-TADF) materials, it is important that there exist computational methods to accurately model their excited states. Here, building on our previous work, we demonstrate how the spin-component scaling second-order approximate coupled-cluster (SCS-CC2), a wavefunction-based method, is robust at predicting the ΔE_ST (i.e., the energy difference between the lowest singlet S₁ and triplet T₁ excited states) of a large number of MR-TADF materials, with a mean average deviation (MAD) of 0.04 eV compared to experimental data. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations with the most common DFT functionals as well as the consideration of the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA) consistently predict a much larger ΔE_ST as a result of a poorer account of Coulomb correlation as compared to SCS-CC2. Very interestingly, the use of a metric to assess the importance of higher order excitations in the SCS-CC2 wavefunctions shows that Coulomb correlation effects are substantially larger in the lowest singlet compared to the corresponding triplet and need to be accounted for a balanced description of the relevant electronic excited states. This is further highlighted with coupled cluster singles-only calculations, which predict very different S₁ energies as compared to SCS-CC2 while T₁ energies remain similar, leading to very large ΔE_ST, in complete disagreement with the experiments. We compared our SCS-CC2/cc-pVDZ with other wavefunction approaches, namely, CC2/cc-pVDZ and SOS-CC2/cc-pVDZ leading to similar performances. Using SCS-CC2, we investigate the excited-state properties of MR-TADF emitters showcasing large ΔE_T2T1 for the majority of emitters, while π-electron extension emerges as the best strategy to minimize ΔE_ST. We also employed SCS-CC2 to evaluate donor-acceptor systems that contain a MR-TADF moiety acting as the acceptor and show that the broad emission observed for some of these compounds arises from the solvent-promoted stabilization of a higher-lying charge-transfer singlet state (S₂). This work highlights the importance of using wavefunction methods in relation to MR-TADF emitter design and associated photophysics.

Ultraviolet Quantum Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride from Carbon Clusters

Ultraviolet (UV) quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have generated considerable interest due to their outstanding optical response. Recent experiments have identified a carbon impurity as a possible source of UV single-photon emission. Here, on the basis of first-principles calculations, we systematically evaluate the ability of substitutional carbon defects to develop the UV color centers in hBN. Of 17 defect configurations under consideration, we particularly emphasize the carbon ring defect (6C), for which the calculated zero-phonon line agrees well the experimental 4.1 eV emission signal. We also compare the optical properties of 6C with those of other relevant defects, thereby outlining the key differences in the emission mechanism. Our findings provide new insights into the strong response of this color center to external perturbations and pave the way to a robust identification of the particular carbon substitutional defects by spectroscopic methods.

Interlayer Bonding in Two-Dimensional Materials: The Special Case of SnP3 and GeP3

Stacked two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures are evolving as the "next-generation" optoelectronic materials because of the possibility of designing atomically thin devices with outstanding characteristics. However, most of the existing 2D heterostructures are governed by weak van der Waals interlayer interactions that, as often is the case, exert limited impact on the resulting properties of heterostructures relative to their constituting components. In this work, we investigate the optoelectronic properties of a novel class of 2D MP₃ (M = Ge and Sn) materials featuring strong interlayer interactions, applying a robust theoretical framework combining density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory. We demonstrate that the remarkable intrinsic vertical strain (of ∼40% relative to the monolayers) promotes the exfoliation of these materials into bilayers and profoundly impacts their electronic structure, charge transport, and optical properties. Most strikingly, we observe that the strong interlayer hybridization indicates continuous optical absorption across the entire visible range that, together with high charge carrier mobility, makes these 2D MP₃ heterostructures attractive for photoconversion applications.

Engineering Chemically Active Defects in Monolayer MoS2 Transistors via Ion-Beam Irradiation and Their Healing via Vapor Deposition of Alkanethiols

Irradiation of 2D sheets of transition metal dichalcogenides with ion beams has emerged as an effective approach to engineer chemically active defects in 2D materials. In this context, argon-ion bombardment has been utilized to introduce sulfur vacancies in monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂ ). However, a detailed understanding of the effects of generated defects on the functional properties of 2D MoS₂ is still lacking. In this work, the correlation between critical electronic device parameters and the density of sulfur vacancies is systematically investigated through the fabrication and characterization of back-gated monolayer MoS₂ field-effect transistors (FETs) exposed to a variable fluence of low-energy argon ions. The electrical properties of pristine and ion-irradiated FETs can be largely improved/recovered by exposing the devices to vapors of short linear thiolated molecules. Such a solvent-free chemical treatment-carried out strictly under inert atmosphere-rules out secondary healing effects induced by oxygen or oxygen-containing molecules. The results provide a guideline to design monolayer MoS₂ optoelectronic devices with a controlled density of sulfur vacancies, which can be further exploited to introduce ad hoc molecular functionalities by means of thiol chemistry approaches.

Detection of African Swine Fever Antibodies in Experimental and Field Samples from the Russian Federation: Implications for Control

African swine fever (ASF) re-entered in Europe in 2007 by Georgia rapidly affecting neighbouring countries. Since then, ASF has caused severe problems to the Russian Federation (RF) and spread to Northern and Western regions, including Ukraine (2012 and 2014) and Belarus (2013). At the beginning of 2014, dead wild boars were found in Lithuania and Poland. Several outbreaks have been later notified in the European Union(EU), affecting domestic pigs and wild boar of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and also wild boar in Estonia, causing major problems for the EU pig sector. Some studies have been performed with this ASFV isolate, revealing that it belongs to genotype II and causes an acute form of the disease. However, few data are available about the presence of antibodies in field and experimental samples from the affected area. This study analysed samples from experimental infections with ASFV isolated from the RF in 2013 (74 sera and 3 tissue exudates), and field samples from the RF from 2013 to 2014 (266 samples, including 32 and 7 tissue exudates from domestic pigs and wild boar, respectively). All samples were tested by a commercial ELISA and, some of them (79), also by immunochromatographic tests. Positive and doubtful samples were confirmed by immunoblotting test. Positive results were found in experimental and field samples, which confirm the presence of antibodies against ASFV in the RF. Antibodies were detected in animals inoculated with three different ASFV isolates, with some differences found among them. Only a small percentage of field samples was positive for ASF antibodies (3.7%), in agreement with other observations that reported a high virulence for the ASFV isolates in the area. These results confirm the potential presence of survivor animals that should be considered in affected areas to help design effective control and eradication plans against ASF.

A multiscale modeling study of loss processes in block-copolymer-based solar cell nanodevices

Flexible photovoltaic devices possess promising perspectives in opto-electronic technologies, where high mobility and/or large-scale applicability are important. However, their usefulness in such applications is currently still limited due to the low level of optimization of their performance and durability. For the improvement of these properties, a better understanding and control of small-scale annihilation phenomena involved in the photovoltaic process, such as exciton loss and charge carrier loss, is necessary, which typically implicates multiple length- and time-scales. Here, we study the causes for their occurrence on the example of nanostructured diblock- and triblock-copolymer systems by making use of a novel solar-cell simulation algorithm and explore new routes to optimize their photovoltaic properties. A particular focus is set on the investigation of exciton and charge carrier loss phenomena and their dependence on the inter-monomeric interaction strength, chain architecture, and external mechanical loading. Our simulation results reveal that in the regime from low up to intermediate χ-parameters an increasing number of continuous percolation paths is created. In this parameter range, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) increases up to a maximum, characterized by a minimum in the number of charge losses due to charge recombination. In the regime of high χ-parameters both block-copolymer systems form nanostructures with a large number of bottlenecks and dead ends. These lead to a large number of charge losses due to charge recombination, charge trapping, and a deteriorated exciton dissociation, resulting in a significant drop in the IQE. Moreover, we find that the photovoltaic performance of the triblock-copolymer material decreases with increasing mechanical loading, caused by a growing number of charge losses due to charge recombination and charge accumulation. Finally, we demonstrate that the process of charge trapping in defects can be reversed by changing the polarity of the electrodes, which confers these materials the ability to be used as charge storage media.