Paper Title & Link: Exciton Polaron formation and hot-carrier relaxation in Rigid Dion-Jacobson-type two-dimensional perovskites
Authors: Somnath Biswas, Ruyan Zhao, Fatimah Alowa, Marios Zachrias, Sahar Sharifzadeh, David F. Coker, Dwight S. Seferos & Gregory D. Scholes
A former postdoctoral fellow from the Department of Chemistry is among those celebrating the publication of a new paper at Nature Materials, as well collaboration with a former UofT professor now at Princeton University.
Dr. Ruyan Zhao worked with Professor Dwight Seferos from 2020 to 2022. “During this period,” she says, “I developed an expeditious method to synthesize a variety of organic ligands and their incorporation into two-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites.”
This work is the subject of the new Nature Materials publication, which describes synthesizing a new compound—literally imagining and then creating new matter. According to Seferos, the intent is to explore whether the resulting material can eventually become the basis for making customized power conductors.
Asked to describe their experimental results, she explained that the new compound is a two-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid semiconductor. "These materials are neither purely organic nor purely inorganic, combining the advantages of both organic and inorganic components. They exhibit unique properties that make them ideal for various applications.”
In addition to showcasing the power of materials chemistry, this result is noteworthy as collaboration between the Seferos Group and that Dr. Gregory Scholes, who moved to Princeton from UofT in 2014.
“Just like the organic-inorganic hybrid materials we developed here combine the advantages of organic and inorganic materials, our collaboration with Greg Scholes exploits the strengths of both teams,” says Zhao. “This work benefits from our capability to make new materials and their expertise in investigating carrier properties.”
In a world where scientific exploration occurs across a dynamic landscape, with researchers moving across continents—Zhao is now at the Max Plank Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle—the forging of community in the process. The constant exchange of ideas, techniques, and perspectives among researchers creates connections that catalyze discoveries—a reminder that science knows no boundaries.
“We had identified the Scholes as a group of complementary expertise,” said Seferos. “As such, this was great collaboration—exactly the type that can enhance the UofT experience.”
“The Scholes Group was at UofT when I arrived. We collaborated to synthesize new compositions, using chemical intuition and our shared knowledge of how to make things.”