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Hybrid two-dimensional perovskites hold considerable promise as semiconductors for a wide range of optoelectronic applications. Many efforts are addressed to exploit the potential of these materials by tailoring their characteristics. In this work, the optical properties and electronic band structure in three new Dion-Jacobson (DJ) perovskites (PVKs) are engineered by modulating their structural distortion. Two different interlayer cations: 1-6, Hexamethylendiammonium, HE, and 3-(Dimethylamino)-1-propylammonium, DMPA, have been selected to investigate the role of the cation length and the ammonium binding group on the crystalline structure. This study provides new insights into the understanding of the structure-property relationship in DJ perovskites and demonstrates that exciton characteristics can be easily modulated with the judicious design of the organic cations. DJ PVKs developed in this work were also grown as size-controlled single crystal microwires through a microfluidic-assisted synthesis technique and integrated in a nanophotonic device. The DJ PVK microwire acts as a waveguide exhibiting strong light-matter coupling between the crystal optical modes and DJ PVK exciton. Through the investigation of these polariton waveguides, the nature of the double peak emission, which is often observed in these materials and whose nature is largely debated in the literature, is demonstrated originating from the hybrid polariton state.

The design of large-scale colloidal quantum dots (QDs) assemblies and the investigation of their interaction with their close environment are of great interest for improving QD-based optoelectronic devices' performances. Understanding the interaction mechanisms taking place when only a few QDs are assembled at a short interparticle distance is relevant to better promote the charge or energy transfer processes. Here, small hetero-assemblies formed of a few CdSe QDs of two different sizes, connected by alkyl dithiols, are fabricated in solution. The interparticle distance is tuned by varying the linear alkyl chain length of the bifunctional spacer from nanometer to sub-nanometer range. The crystallographic analysis highlights that the nearest surfaces involved in the linkage between the QDs are the (101) faces. The thorough spectroscopic investigation enables a sound rationalization of the coupling mechanism between the interacting nanoparticles, ranging from charge transfer/wavefunction delocalization to energy transfer, depending on their separation distance., Comment: In press in Materials Research Bulletin. Available online 1 October 2021, 111578

Anthracene derivative compounds are currently investigated because of their unique physical properties (e.g., bright luminescence and emission tunability), which make them ideal candidates for advanced optoelectronic devices. Intermolecular interactions are the basis of the tunability of the optical and electronic properties of these compounds, whose prediction and exploitation benefit from the knowledge of the crystal structure and the packing architecture. Polymorphism can occur due to the weak intermolecular interactions, asking for detailed structural analysis clarifying the origin of observed material property modifications. Here, two silylethyne-substituted anthracene compounds are characterized by single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction, identifying a new polymorph. Additionally, laser confocal microscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy confirm the results obtained by the X-ray diffraction characterization, i.e., shifting the substituents towards the external benzene rings of the anthracene unit favours {\pi}-{\pi} interactions, impacting on both the morphology and the microscopic optical properties of the crystals. The compounds with more isolated anthracene units feature shorter lifetime and emission spectra more similar to those ones of isolated molecules. The crystallographic study, supported by the optical investigation, sheds light on the influence of non-covalent interactions on the crystal packing and luminescence properties of anthracene derivatives, providing a further step towards their efficient use as building blocks in active components of light sources and photonic networks., Comment: 39 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables

Topological physics and in particular its connection with artificial gauge fields is a forefront topic in different physical systems, ranging from cold atoms to photonics and more recently semiconductor dressed exciton-photon states, called polaritons. Engineering the energy dispersion of polaritons in microcavities through nanofabrication or exploiting the intrinsic material and cavity anisotropies has demonstrated many intriguing effects related to topology and emergent gauge fields. Here, we show that we can control the Berry curvature distribution of polariton bands in a strongly coupled organic-inorganic 2D perovskite single crystal. The spatial anisotropy of the perovskite crystal combined with photonic spin-orbit coupling make emerge two Hamilton's diabolical points in the dispersion. The application of an external magnetic field breaks time reversal symmetry thanks to the exciton Zeeman splitting. It splits the diabolical points degeneracy. The resulting bands show non-zero integral Berry curvature which we directly measure by state tomography. Crucially, we show that we can control the Berry curvature distribution in the band, the so-called band geometry, within the same microcavity., Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures

The photoluminescence (PL), color purity, and stability of lead halide perovskite nanocrystals depend critically on the surface passivation. We present a study on the temperature dependent PL and PL decay dynamics of lead bromide perovskite nanocrystals characterized by different types of A cations, surface ligands, and nanocrystal sizes. Throughout, we observe a single emission peak from cryogenic to ambient temperature. The PL decay dynamics are dominated by the surface passivation, and a post-synthesis ligand exchange with a quaternary ammonium bromide (QAB) results in a more stable passivation over a larger temperature range. The PL intensity is highest from 50K-250K, which indicates that the ligand binding competes with the thermal energy at ambient temperature. Despite the favorable PL dynamics of nanocrystals passivated with QAB ligands (monoexponential PL decay over a large temperature range, increased PL intensity and stability), the surface passivation still needs improvement toward increased emission intensity in nanocrystal films., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures

Conjugated polymers are complex multi-chromophore systems, with emission properties strongly dependent on the electronic energy transfer through active sub-units. Although the packing of the conjugated chains in the solid state is known to be a key factor to tailor the electronic energy transfer and the resulting optical properties, most of the current solution-based processing methods do not allow for effectively controlling the molecular order, thus making the full unveiling of energy transfer mechanisms very complex. Here we report on conjugated polymer fibers with tailored internal molecular order, leading to a significant enhancement of the emission quantum yield. Steady state and femtosecond time-resolved polarized spectroscopies evidence that excitation is directed toward those chromophores oriented along the fiber axis, on a typical timescale of picoseconds. These aligned and more extended chromophores, resulting from the high stretching rate and electric field applied during the fiber spinning process, lead to improved emission properties. Conjugated polymer fibers are relevant to develop optoelectronic plastic devices with enhanced and anisotropic properties., Comment: 43 pages, 15 figures, 1 table in Journal of the American Chemical Society, (2016)

A new procedure aiming at folding a powder diffraction 2-D into a 1-D scan is presented. The technique consists of three steps: tracking the beam centre by means of a Simulated Annealing (SA) of the diffraction rings along the same axis, detector tilt and rotation determination by a Hankel Lanczos Singular Value Decomposition (HLSVD) and intensity integration by an adaptive binning algorithm. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) intensity profile of the standard NIST Si 640c sample is used to test the performances. Results show the robustness of the method and its capability of efficiently tagging the pixels in a 2-D readout system by matching the ideal geometry of the detector to the real beam-sample-detector frame. The whole technique turns out in a versatile and user-friendly tool for the $2\vartheta$ scanning of 2-D XRPD profiles., Comment: 11 pages, 1 table, 2 figures