For nanomaterials, surface chemistry can dictate fundamental material properties, including charge-carrier lifetimes, doping levels, and electrical mobilities. In devices, surface defects are usually the key limiting factor for performance, particularly in solar-energy applications. Here, we develop a strategy to uniformly and selectively passivate defect sites in semiconductor nanomaterials using a vapor-phase process termed targeted atomic deposition (TAD). Because defects often consist of atomic vacancies and dangling bonds with heightened reactivity, we observe-for the widely used p-type cathode nickel oxide-that a volatile precursor such as trimethylaluminum can undergo a kinetically limited selective reaction with these sites. The TAD process eliminates all measurable defects in NiO, leading to a nearly 3-fold improvement in the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. Our results suggest that TAD could be implemented with a range of vapor-phase precursors and be developed into a general strategy to passivate defects in zero-, one-, and two-dimensional nanomaterials.

The synthesis, X-ray structures and photophysics of ten complexes of CuX (X = I or Br) with bridging N-substituted and N,N'-disubstituted piperazines (Pip) are presented. Depending on the steric demand of the Pip substituents, the complexes fall into four categories: (CuX)(4)(Pip)(2), which are networks of linked Cu(4)X(4) cubane units, (CuX)(2)(Pip), which are chains of linked Cu(2)X(2) rhombs, and (CuX)(2)(Pip)(2) or (CuX)(4)(Pip)(4), which are simple rhomboid dimers and cubane tetramers. A combination of spectroscopic studies and DFT calculations was used to investigate the luminescence of the products. The results suggest that the relatively high energy emission seen in dimers is due to cluster-centred (XMLT/metal-centred) excitations for the aliphatic amines and MLCT (d →π*) for aromatic amines, and low energy emission seen in the tetramers is the result of cluster-centred transitions. The (CuI)(2)(Pip) complexes act as sensor materials, undergoing irreversible reaction with aliphatic and aromatic amines (Nu) in the vapour state, irreversibly producing cubanes (CuI)(4)Nu(4), with corresponding production of long wavelength emission.

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A p-type metal oxide with high surface area and good charge carrier mobility is of paramount importance for development of tandem solar fuel and dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) devices. Here, we report the synthesis, hierarchical morphology, electrical properties, and DSSC performance of mesoscale p-type NiO platelets. This material, which exhibits lateral dimensions of 100 nm but thicknesses less than 10 nm, can be controllably functionalized with a high-density array of vertical pores 4−6, 5−9, or 7−23 nm in diameter depending on exact synthetic conditions. Thin films of this porous but still quasi-two-dimensional material retain a high surface area and exhibit electrical mobilities more than 10-fold higher than comparable films of spherical particles with similar doping levels. These advantages lead to a modest, 20−30% improvement in the performance of DSSC devices under simulated 1-sun illumination. The capability to rationally control morphology provides a route for continued development of NiO as a high-efficiency material for tandem solar energy devices.