Metal Organochalcogenolates—An Emerging Family of Low-Dimensional Light Emitters

Metal organochalcogenolates (MOCs) are an emerging class of low-dimensional hybrid organic-inorganic semiconductors. Silver phenylselenolate (AgSePh), a prototypical 2D MOC, is a natural quantum well structure exhibiting narrow blue emission, large exciton binding energy, and in-plane anisotropy. Like transition metal dichalcogenides and 2D lead halide perovskites, MOCs can be synthesized in the form of three-dimensional crystals consisting of 2D layers held together by van der Waals forces. However, MOCs are distinguished from perovskites and other vdW crystals by the presence of organic ligands covalently bound to each 2D inorganic layer, which imparts chemical robustness and a unique handle for tuning the electronic properties.<br/><br/>In this talk, I will discuss efforts from my lab to synthesize new AgSePh derivatives with varying dimensionality, and characterize the excitonic nature of light emission and electron-phonon interactions in this new hybrid organic-inorganic materials family.