Hybrid organic, inorganic two-dimensional layered materials for photodetectors and photovoltaics

Inspite of the varying compositions for two-dimensional (2D) layered materials, their unifying feature arises from the weak van der Waals (vdW) interaction that serves as the glue between adjacent layers. Here, in the first part of this work, we will discuss our efforts in studying the light-matter interactions in ensembles of graphene, a quintessential 2D layered material in its laterally confined quantum dot (GQD) form, as it is integrated with 2D membranes of MoS2. The interactions of zero dimensional (0D) GQDs with underlying semiconducting 2D MoS2 have been investigated, which exhibits outstanding properties for optoelectronic devices surpassing the limitations of MoS2 photodetectors alone, where the GQDs extend the optical absorption into the near-UV regime. In addition, a more complex crystalline structure of 2D materials is discussed, that based on 2D halide perovskites. Just like graphene, MoS2, and other inorganic 2D layered materials, the 2D halide perovskites have also recently drawn significant interest due to their tunable optoelectronic properties. These tunable optoelectronic properties in the 2D halide perovskites have led to their use in photodetectors as well as in solar cells. In the second part of this study, we discuss the use of 2D halide perovskites for their integration in photovoltaic applications, where we start with a discussion on the synthesis of the solution processed 2D layered organo-halide (CH3(CH2)(3)NH3)(2)(CH3NH3)(n-1)PbnI3n+1 (n = 4) perovskites. This is then followed with our initial efforts toward the integration of the 2D perovskites into solar cells on ITO substrates.