3D Chiral Metal Halide Semiconductors
Chiral metal halides are promising materials for nonlinear optics and spin-selective devices. Typically, chirality is introduced via large chiral organic cations, leading to low-dimensional structures and limitations in charge transport. Here, we design a family of chiral metal halides based on the relatively small ditopic <i>R</i>/<i>S</i>-3-aminoquinuclidine (3-AQ) cation, forming an (<i>R</i>/<i>S</i>-3AQ)-Pb<sub>2</sub>Br<sub>6</sub> structure closely related to the 3D corner-sharing octahedral network of perovskites. The resulting material exhibits a direct bandgap, isotropic band structure, and fully 3D photoexcitation. Circular dichroism confirms a chiral anisotropy factor consistent with theoretical predictions. Moreover, the material displays a Rashba effect in the conduction band, which is attributed to spin-orbit coupling and the lack of inversion symmetry. Offering rich chemical tunability and efficient 3D charge transport, this new class of chiral semiconductors provides a promising platform for advancing nonlinear optoelectronic and spintronic devices.
Authors
- Massimo Boiocchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4991-145X)
- Heyong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3024-9838)
- Doretta Capsoni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1064-7196)
- Antonella Treglia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8610-8028)
- Filippo De Angelis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3833-1975)
- Chiara Milanese (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3763-6657)
- Annamaria Petrozza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6914-4537)
- Marco Moroni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6167-3792)
- Clarissa Coccia
- Isabel Gonçalves (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2935-0181)
- Edoardo Mosconi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5075-6664)
- Giulia Folpini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6969-8900)
- Luca Gregori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0023-8313)
- Andrea Olivati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7285-3141)
- Marta Morana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5724-9216)
- M. Patrini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3559-1384)
- Lorenzo Malavasi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4724-2376)
Institutions
- University of Pavia (IT)
- University of Perugia (IT)
- Italian Institute of Technology (IT)
- Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IT)
- Center for Nano Science and Technology (IT)
- National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (IT)
- University of Florence (IT)
- Sungkyunkwan University (KR)
- Politecnico di Milano (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Energy Letters
- Published
- 2025-05-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.5c00576
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.18
Funders
- Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca