Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: He, Yi, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Other Authors: Taofang Zeng.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70420
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author He, Yi, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
author2 Taofang Zeng.
author_facet Taofang Zeng.
He, Yi, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
author_sort He, Yi, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012.
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spelling mit-1721.1/704202019-04-10T23:24:01Z Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory He, Yi, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Taofang Zeng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-150). The development of efficient and economic photovoltaic (PV) systems harvesting solar energy is one of the grand challenges for engineering and scientific researchers. The theoretical conversion limit of a single-junction solar cell is 31% according to Shockley and Queisser (SQ), which the most advanced single-junction PV devices are approaching. Thus it is important to develop new methods and devices that can exceed the SQ limit. An economic strategy that may potentially break the SQ limit is to make use of the unique properties of semiconductor nanoclusters to fabricate PV devices. The physics of semiconductor nanoclusters such as the dynamics of electrons and excitons are the fundamentals for fabricating nanocluster-based PV devices. Although the theories and numerical approaches have been long established for three-dimensional (3D) bulk materials, two-dimensional (2D) graphene-like structures and one-dimensional (ID) nanotubes, the computational methods for zero-dimensional (OD) finite systems based on the most advanced physical theory are not well established. In the thesis, the computational approaches and methods based on the many-body Green's function theory are developed for OD nanoclusters and molecules. The numerical implementations for the calculation of electronic inelastic scattering rates in nanoclusters are established. An efficient computational approach for the calculation of excitonic inelastic scattering rates in nanoclusters is also developed. Both the single-phonon and the multiple-phonon nonradiative relaxation mechanisms in nanoclusters are investigated. It is demonstrated that the nonradiative relaxation of one-particle states and two-particle states are distinctive due to the difference between the density-of-states of one-particle states and two-particle states. Based on the numerical method established in the thesis, a strategy is proposed to reduce the electron-phonon coupling in nanoclusters by pushing valence electron away from nuclei with core electrons in heavy atoms, which is demonstrated with the lead chalcogenide nanoclusters, and porphyrin molecule and a porphyrin derivative. by Yi He. Ph.D. 2012-04-26T18:51:48Z 2012-04-26T18:51:48Z 2012 2012 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70420 785168891 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 150 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
He, Yi, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory
title Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory
title_full Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory
title_fullStr Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory
title_full_unstemmed Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory
title_short Dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many-body Green's function theory
title_sort dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanoclusters and molecules studied by many body green s function theory
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70420
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