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Quasi two-dimensional (2D) lead halide perovskite materials have shown outstanding performance in various photoelectric devices, including perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and perovskite optical pumping lasers. Due to the structure diversity of bulky organic cation, the photoelectric property for quasi-2D perovskite materials is flexible to be tuned. The spontaneously formed quantum-well structures allow rapid and efficient energy funneling from low-n domains to high-n domains, contributing to high exciton utilization for perovskite LEDs and low threshold for amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and optical pumping perovskite lasers. Moreover, the hydrophobic bulky organic cations benefit to improve the environmental and operating stability owning to the better moisture tolerance and defects passivation ability. In this review, we will primarily introduce the quasi-2D lead halide perovskite materials from the structure to their optical and electrical properties. Then, we will focus on the advances of optical pumping lasers based on quasi-2D lead halide perovskite materials as gain mediums. Especially, more attention will be paid to perovskite lasers using distributed feedback (DFB) and distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) cavities. Furthermore, the key issues to realize quasi-2D perovskite-based electrical pumping lasers will be discussed.

Organic–inorganic lead halide quasi-two-dimensional (2D) perovskites are promising gain media for lasing applications because of their low cost, tunable colour, excellent stability and solution processability1–3. Optically pumped continuous-wave (CW) lasing is highly desired for practical applications in high-density integrated optoelectronics devices and constitutes a key step towards electrically pumped lasers4–6. However, CW lasing has not yet been realized at room temperature because of the ‘lasing death’ phenomenon (the abrupt termination of lasing under CW optical pumping), the cause of which remains unknown. Here we study lead halide-based quasi-2D perovskite films with different organic cations and observe that long-lived triplet excitons considerably impede population inversion during amplified spontaneous emission and optically pumped pulsed and CW lasing. Our results indicate that singlet–triplet exciton annihilation is a possible intrinsic mechanism causing lasing death. By using a distributed-feedback cavity with a high quality factor and applying triplet management strategies, we achieve stable green quasi-2D perovskite lasers under CW optical pumping in air at room temperature. We expect that our findings will pave the way to the realization of future current-injection perovskite lasers. Lead halide-based quasi-two-dimensional perovskite films with different organic cations are used to create stable green lasers under continuous-wave optical pumping in air at room temperature.

Perovskites show exciting potential for photoelectric applications, especially for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), owing to their intrinsically high photoluminescence efficiency and color purity. Wit...

Emission thermal quenching is commonly observed in quasi-2D perovskite emitters, which causes the severe drop in luminescence efficiency for the quasi-2D perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) during practical operations. However, this issue is often neglected and rarely studied, and the root cause of the thermal quenching has not been completely revealed now. Here, we develop a passivation strategy via the 2,7-dibromo-9,9-bis (3′-diethoxylphosphorylpropyl)-fluorene to investigate and suppress the thermal quenching. The agent can effectively passivate coordination-unsaturated Pb2+ defects of both surface and bulk of the film without affecting the perovskite crystallization, which helps to more truly demonstrate the important role of defects in thermal quenching. And our results reveal the root cause that the quenching will be strengthened by the defect-promoted exciton-phonon coupling. Ultimately, the PeLEDs with defect passivation achieve an improved external quantum efficiency (EQE) over 22% and doubled operation lifetime at room temperature, and can maintain about 85% of the initial EQE at 85 °C, much higher than 17% of the control device. These findings provide an important basis for fabricating practical PeLEDs for lighting and displays.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology is promising for applications in next-generation displays and lighting. However, it is difficult-especially in large-area mass production-to cover a large substrate uniformly with organic layers, and variations in thickness cause the formation of shunting paths between electrodes1,2, thereby lowering device production yield. To overcome this issue, thicker organic transport layers are desirable because they can cover particles and residue on substrates, but increasing their thickness increases the driving voltage because of the intrinsically low charge-carrier mobilities of organics. Chemical doping of organic layers increases their electrical conductivity and enables fabrication of thicker OLEDs3,4, but additional absorption bands originating from charge transfer appear5, reducing electroluminescence efficiency because of light absorption. Thick OLEDs made with organic single crystals have been demonstrated6, but are not practical for mass production. Therefore, an alternative method of fabricating thicker OLEDs is needed. Here we show that extraordinarily thick OLEDs can be fabricated by using the organic-inorganic perovskite methylammonium lead chloride, CH3NH3PbCl3 (MAPbCl3), instead of organics as the transport layers. Because MAPbCl3 films have high carrier mobilities and are transparent to visible light, we were able to increase the total thickness of MAPbCl3 transport layers to 2,000 nanometres-more than ten times the thickness of standard OLEDs-without requiring high voltage or reducing either internal electroluminescence quantum efficiency or operational durability. These findings will contribute towards a higher production yield of high-quality OLEDs, which may be used for other organic devices, such as lasers, solar cells, memory devices and sensors.

The current status of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and related analysis on perovskite solar cells (PSC) is still unsatisfactory. The provided models are still vague and not really helpful for guiding the efforts to develop more efficient and stable devices. Due to the slow and complex dynamics of these devices, the obtained spectra need to be validated, which is hardly ever done. This study may be the first to provide fully validated impedance spectra and presents reproducible EIS time series at open circuit voltage (VOC) for more than 20 hours, with a total of 140 analysed spectra. We conclude that the observed changes stem from a temporary reduction of the electronically active area of the devices, as can be deduced from the inverse behaviour of resistance and capacitance. The changes in these values are almost 100% reversible if the devices are kept in the dark for only one day, while the time constant of the high-frequency process remains unchanged throughout the whole characterization procedure. The tested devices are full PSC devices that have proven to be stable over more than 500 hours, and the non-steady impedance measurements shine a critical light on previously published EIS data. With the results of this study, it can be rationalized that the high-frequency semicircle can serve as a good indicator for ionic migration by monitoring its consequences. The results presented here are helpful to quantify ionic migration on the device level in order to derive new stability criteria and countermeasures against degradation.

Organic-inorganic lead halide quasi-two-dimensional (2D) perovskites are promising gain media for lasing applications because of their low cost, tunable colour, excellent stability and solution processability

Organo-lead-halide perovskites are promising materials for optoelectronic applications. Perovskite solar cells have reached power conversion efficiencies of over 22%, and perovskite light-emitting diodes have recently achieved over 11% external quantum efficiency. To date, most research on perovskite light-emitting diodes has focused on solution-processed films. There are many advantages of a vapor-based growth process to prepare perovskites, including ease of patterning, ability to batch process, and material compatibility. We investigated an all-vapor perovskite growth process by chemical vapor deposition and demonstrated luminance up to 560 cd/m2.

In article number 1801079, Chuanjiang Qin, Chihaya Adachi, and co‐workers adopt thermally stimulated current and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements to reveal that carrier traps are generated in solar cells with CH3NH3PbI3 as a light absorber after operation at 85°C, which is higher than its phase transition temperature. Perovskite alloys‐based solar cells with improved thermal stability under a standard thermal cycling test are demonstrated.

Excess/unreacted lead iodide (PbI2 ) has been commonly used in perovskite films for the state-of-the-art solar cell applications. However, an understanding of intrinsic degradation mechanisms of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) containing unreacted PbI2 has been still insufficient and, therefore, needs to be clarified for better operational durability. Here, it is shown that degradation of PSCs is hastened by unreacted PbI2 crystals under continuous light illumination. Unreacted PbI2 undergoes photodecomposition under illumination, resulting in the formation of lead and iodine in films. Thus, this photodecomposition of PbI2 is one of the main reasons for accelerated device degradation. Therefore, this work reveals that carefully controlling the formation of unreacted PbI2 crystals in perovskite films is very important to improve device operational stability for diverse opto-electronic applications in the future.

A power conversion efficiency of over 20% has been achieved in CH3NH3PbI3‐based perovskite solar cells (PSC), however, low thermal stability associated with the presence of a phase transition between tetragonal and cubic structures near room temperature is a major issue that must be overcome for future practical applications. Here, the influence of the phase transition on the thermal stability of PSCs is investigated in detail by comparing four kinds of perovskite films with different compositions of halogen atoms and organic components. Thermally stimulated current measurements reveal that a large number of carrier traps are generated in solar cells with the perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 as a light absorber after operation at 85 °C, which is higher than the phase‐transition temperature. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements further exclude effects of a possible morphology change on the formation of carrier traps. These carrier traps are detrimental to the thermal stability. The thermogravimetric analysis does not show a decomposition for any of the materials in the temperature range relevant for operation. The perovskite alloys do not have this phase transition, resulting in effectively suppressed formation of carrier traps. PSCs with improved thermal stability under the standard thermal cycling test are demonstrated.

The development of host materials with high performance is essential for fabrication of efficient and stable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Although host materials used in OLEDs are typically organics, in this study, it is shown that the organic-inorganic perovskite CH3 NH3 PbCl3 (MAPbCl3 ) can be used as a host layer for OLEDs. Vacuum-evaporated MAPbCl3 films have a wide band gap of about 3 eV and very high and relatively balanced hole and electron mobilities, which are suitable for the host material. Photoluminescence and electroluminescence take place through energy transfer from MAPbCl3 to an organic emitter in films. Incorporation of an MAPbCl3 host layer into OLEDs leads to a reduction of driving voltage and enhancement of external quantum efficiency as compared to devices with a conventional organic host layer. Additionally, OLEDs with an MAPbCl3 host layer demonstrate very good operational stability under continuous current operation. These results can be extensively applied to organic- and perovskite-based optoelectronics.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology is promising for applications in next-generation displays and lighting. However, it is difficult-especially in large-area mass production-to cover a large substrate uniformly with organic layers, and variations in thickness cause the formation of shunting paths between electrodes

Three new organic D–A–π–A photosensitizers with thiadiazolo[3,4- c ]pyridine moiety incorporated between non-planar triarylamine and cyanoacrylic acid, have been developed and applied in dye-sensitized solar cells. It has been demonstrated that the incorporation of electron-withdrawing thiadiazolo[3,4- c ]pyridine unit can effectively tune the HOMO and LUMO energy levels, extending the absorption spectra into the deep-red region and covering the whole visible region. The photoresponse of the cells based on the three dyes reached above 800 nm, a value which is comparable to the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency onset of the established dye N719. Typically, three different bulky electron-donating units such as triphenylamine, N , N -bis(9,9-dimethylfluoren-2-yl)aniline and 4-(hexyloxy)- N -(4-(hexyloxy)phenyl)- N -phenylaniline were utilized to investigate their influences on the photovoltaic performances of DSSCs. The results indicate that the introduction of the strongest electron-donating 4-(hexyloxy)- N -(4-(hexyloxy)phenyl)- N -phenylaniline unit can further red-shift the intramolecular charge transfer band and enhance the light-harvesting properties, as well as retard the electron recombination between electrons at the TiO 2 and oxidized species of dye or I 3 − in the electrolyte. Under simulated AM 1.5G irradiation, the cell based on the dye derived from 4-(hexyloxy)- N -(4-(hexyloxy) phenyl)- N -phenylaniline produced a short-circuit photocurrent of 14.19 mA cm −2 , an open-circuit photovoltage of 0.462 V, a fill factor of 0.64, corresponding to a power conversion efficiency of 4.20%. Though the power conversion efficiency is still low, the methodology of tuning the HOMO and LUMO energy levels by incorporation of an electron-withdrawing thiadiazolo[3,4- c ]pyridine unit in such D–A–π–A dyes could be generally applied to design more efficient panchromatic sensitizers in DSSCs.

Solar cells can generate free electricity by converting sunlight. Therefore, development of new solar cell materials with higher performance and lower cost fabrication are very important for realizing environmentally friendly and sustainable human society. Recently metal halide perovskites have emerged as the next-generation light absorber in solar cells. Power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells has already reached over 20%, which is comparable to existing silicon solar cell technology. However, several issues remain in perovskite solar cells, such as low operational stability under illumination, inclusion of toxic lead, and low thermal stability, and need to be solved for commercialization. Here we show our recent results on metal halide perovskite-based devices. We analyzed working and degradation mechanisms of perovskite solar cells with the aim of enhancing their solar power conversion efficiency and operational durability. The photon-to-electron conversion efficiencies and half lifetimes under continuous illumination for our lead-based perovskite solar cells reached high levels; > 20% and > 20,000 h. Mixing several metal, halogen, and organic ions greatly enhanced the thermal stability of perovskite films, making it possible to obtain perovskite solar cells showing less degradation even at 85 degree Celsius under illumination. We also demonstrated very stable solar cells based on tin-based perovskites with low toxicity. We also used perovskites to fabricate high mobility field-effect transistors, and efficient LEDs and laser devices. Figure 1

In this study, we investigate the lasing properties of 4,4′-bis[(N-carbazole)styryl]biphenyl thin films under electrical pumping. The electroluminescent devices incorporate a mixed-order distributed feedback SiO2 grating into an organic light-emitting diode structure and emit blue lasing. The results provide an indication of lasing by direct injection of current into an organic thin film through selection of a high-gain organic semiconductor showing clear separation of the lasing wavelength from significant triplet and polaron absorption and design of a proper feedback structure with low losses at high current densities. This study represents an important advance toward a future organic laser diode technology.