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Tunable coherent mixed-dimensional perovskite heterojunctions and quantum wells grown from solution

Nature Photonics volume 19, pages 1056–1063 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Coherent heterojunctions, quantum wells and multiple quantum wells are needed for high-performance devices; these are generally grown via a dedicated vapour phase epitaxy process. Here we demonstrate the growth of coherent perovskite heterojunctions and quantum wells made of mixed-dimensional perovskites using a solution process. By exploiting the solubility difference of methylammonium (MA+) and 4-(aminomethyl)piperidinium (4AMP2+), we assemble layered perovskites with different layer numbers. The resulting 4AMP-MAn–1PbnI3n+1 materials each with different layer numbers or bandgaps form quantum wells. Heterojunctions and quantum wells made of 4AMP-MA2Pb3I10 (n = 3) and 4AMP-MAPb2I7 (n = 2) with various barrier thickness are tailored by the solution temperature profile during crystal growth. Multiple quantum wells have been formed by cycling temperature profiles. The planar heterojunction and quantum wells have lattice matching without interfacial defects, and exhibit strong thermal stability. Type I band alignment at the n = 2/n = 3 heterojunction is confirmed by both computation and optical studies. This study opens a new direction for the development of sophisticated perovskite heterojunction and quantum well devices.

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Fig. 1: Heterojunction and quantum well growth method.
Fig. 2: Structure schematic and characterizations of a quantum well.
Fig. 3: Precisely controlling of multi quantum well formations.
Fig. 4: Structure schematic and characterizations of a crystal with both quantum wells and heterojunction.
Fig. 5: The band alignment and carrier diffusion near the heterojunction.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the article and its Supplementary Information. Source Data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Center for Hybrid Organic Inorganic Semiconductors for Energy (CHOISE), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science within the US Department of Energy. The WAXS measurements used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials and the SMI beamline (12-ID) of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, both supported by US DOE Office of Science Facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract no. DE-SC0012704.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Zhifang Shi, Haoyang Jiao, Zhenyi Ni & Jinsong Huang

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

    Yeming Xian, Xiaoming Wang & Yanfa Yan

  3. X-ray Science Division, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA

    Hua Zhou

  4. Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratories, Upton, NY, USA

    Yugang Zhang

  5. Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jinsong Huang

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  1. Zhifang Shi
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Contributions

Z.S. and J.H. conceived the idea. Z.S. designed the experiments, synthesized heterojunction crystals, and performed XRD and PL related measurements. H.Z. and Y.Z. conducted the WAXS measurement and analysed related data. H.J. performed SEM measurements. Y.X., X.W. and Y.Y. performed the DFT band alignment calculations. Z.N. provided helpful suggestions about PL measurements. Z.S. and J.H. wrote the paper, and all authors reviewed the paper.

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Correspondence to Jinsong Huang.

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Shi, Z., Xian, Y., Wang, X. et al. Tunable coherent mixed-dimensional perovskite heterojunctions and quantum wells grown from solution. Nat. Photon. 19, 1056–1063 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01723-z

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