Ultrafast Electron Transfer with Long-Lived Charge Separation and Spin Polarization in WSe2/C60 Heterojunction

J Phys Chem Lett. 2021 Apr 22;12(15):3691-3697. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c00848. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Abstract

The strong excitonic effect in monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) endows them with intriguing optoelectronic properties but also short-lived population and valley polarization. Exciton dissociation by interfacial charge transfer has been shown as an effective approach to prolonging excited-state lifetimes. Herein, by ultrafast spectroscopy and building-block molecule C60, we investigated exciton and valley polarization dynamics in the prototypical WSe2/C60 inorganic-organic hybrid. We show that excitons in WSe2 can be dissociated through ultrafast (∼1 ps) electron transfer to C60, with nanosecond charge separation due to thermally activated electron diffusion in C60 film. Because of suppressed electron-hole exchange interaction after electron transfer, hole in WSe2 exhibits a spin/valley polarization lifetime of ∼60 ps at room temperature, more than 2 orders of magnitude longer than that in WSe2 monolayer. This study suggests exciton dissociation as a general approach to suppress electron-hole interaction and prolong the charge/spin/valley lifetime in TMDs.