Photophysics of strongly confined perovskite quantum dots

Semiconducting metal halide perovskite (MHP) nanocrystals have emerged as an important new class of materials as the source of photons and charges for various applications that can outperform many other semiconductor nanocrystals utilized for the same purposes. We investigate the strategies for fine chemical and structural control of these new materials and their photon emission and charge carrier generation properties.   

 

Utilizing dark excitons in perovsite quantum dots for enhanced photon and charge emission

Dark exciton in perovskite quantum dots are very long-lived and intensely emitting lowest-energy exciton level, which can be accessed at low temperatures. We investigate the ways to gain easy access to this long-lived state by controlling the chemical structure and degree of quantum confinement in perovskite nanocrystals and utilize their logevity in photon emitting and hot charge carrier generation applications.   

 

Charge transfer/energy transfer dynamics, magnetooptic properties in Mn-doped semiconductor nanostructures

Doping semiconductor nanocrystals with paramagnetic ions introduces new pathways of energy exchange or coupling of different degrees of freedom, giving rise to new optical, electronic and magneto-optic properties absent in undoped nanocrystals. Doped nanocrystals can open new pathways of charge and photon generation, which can be utilized for photonics and photoinduced chemical reactions. We investigate both the synthetic strategies and structurally correlated photophysical properties resulting from doping.
 

 

Hot electron induced photocatalysis

We investigate generation of hot electrons and their utilization in photoinduced chemical processes such as in photocatalytic reduction reactions. Our research group is particularly interested in energetic hot electrons generated via exciton-to-hot electron upconversion in doped semiconductor quantum dots. Application of these hot electrons to efficeint CO2 reduction N2 reduction are of particular interest in our research group.