Chemical physics articles within Nature Materials

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• Letter
  27 April 2023 | Open Access

  Probing lithium mobility at a solid electrolyte surface

  Understanding lithium dynamics in solid-state electrolytes used for Li-ion batteries can be challenging. Using nonlinear extreme-ultraviolet spectroscopies, a direct spectral signature of surface lithium ions showing a distinct blueshift relative to the bulk absorption spectra is observed in a prototypical solid-state electrolyte.

  • Clarisse Woodahl
  • , Sasawat Jamnuch
  •  & Michael Zuerch

• Article | 20 April 2023

  Operando NMR electrochemical gating studies of ion dynamics in PEDOT:PSS

  Understanding charge-compensating interactions and ionic dynamics in organic mixed conductors can be challenging. Operando NMR spectroscopy is now used to quantify cation and water movement during doping/dedoping in mixed conductor films.

  • Dongxun Lyu
  • , Yanting Jin
  •  & Clare P. Grey

• Article | 30 August 2021

  Site-specific chemical doping reveals electron atmospheres at the surfaces of organic semiconductor crystals

  Organic semiconductor crystals can be selectively doped at the crystallographic step edges, deactivating shallow traps and recovering band-like transport. The space charge induced by chemical doping is observed by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy.

  • Tao He
  • , Matthias Stolte
  •  & C. Daniel Frisbie

• Article | 11 January 2021

  Linking in situ charge accumulation to electronic structure in doped SrTiO₃ reveals design principles for hydrogen-evolving photocatalysts

  Understanding the origin of unprecedented solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies in doped SrTiO₃ has proved challenging. Linking in situ charge accumulation to electronic structure in this system now reveals design principles for hydrogen-evolving photocatalysts.

  • Benjamin Moss
  • , Qian Wang
  •  & James R. Durrant

• Article | 23 December 2019

  Nanoscale percolation in doped BaZrO₃ for high proton mobility

  Although acceptor-doped barium zirconate is a promising conductor for electrolysers or fuel cells, our understanding of the relationship between proton motion and conductivity is limited. Our simulations now suggest a generic nanoscale percolation mechanism for high mobility in other oxides.

  • Fabian M. Draber
  • , Christiane Ader
  •  & Manfred Martin

• Article | 10 June 2019

  Quantitative imaging of electric surface potentials with single-atom sensitivity

  Scanning quantum dot microscopy, based on the use of a single molecule attached to the tip of the cantilever of an atomic force microscope, is shown to provide quantitative maps of surface potential distribution with atomic resolution.

  • Christian Wagner
  • , Matthew. F. B. Green
  •  & F. Stefan Tautz

• Article | 22 April 2019

  General rule for the energy of water-induced traps in organic semiconductors

  Hole and electron traps related to the presence of trace water are found in organic semiconductor thin films, at an energy offset of ~0.3–0.4 eV from the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, respectively.

  • Guangzheng Zuo
  • , Mathieu Linares
  •  & Martijn Kemerink

• Article | 14 January 2019

  Phonon coherences reveal the polaronic character of excitons in two-dimensional lead halide perovskites

  High-resolution resonant impulsive stimulated Raman spectroscopy in two-dimensional hybrid metal halide perovskites provides evidence for polaronic effects on excitons, which couple to distinct low-frequency vibrational modes of the ionic lattice.

  • Félix Thouin
  • , David A. Valverde-Chávez
  •  & Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada

• Article | 20 June 2016

  Facet-dependent trapping and dynamics of excess electrons at anatase TiO₂ surfaces and aqueous interfaces

  Excess electrons from intrinsic defects, dopants and photoexcitation play a key role in TiO₂ properties. Simulations now predict that excess electrons depend on the exposed anatase surface, the environment and the character of the electron donor.

  • Sencer Selcuk
  •  & Annabella Selloni

• Article | 01 February 2016

  Conductance saturation in a series of highly transmitting molecular junctions

  The conductance of single-molecule junctions based on oligoacenes is shown to saturate when the molecule length increases. The saturation trend depends on the frontier orbitals of the metals used and on their hybridization with molecular π-orbitals.

  • T. Yelin
  • , R. Korytár
  •  & O. Tal