title: Disorder strongly enhances Auger recombination in conductive quantum-dot solids.
abstract: Auger recombination (AR) can be an important loss mechanism for optoelectronic devices, but it is typically not very efficient at low excitation densities. Here we show that in conductive quantum-dot solids, AR is the dominant charge carrier decay path even at excitation densities as low as 10⁻³ per quantum dot, and that AR becomes faster as the charge carrier mobility increases. Monte Carlo simulations reveal that this efficient AR results from charge carrier congregation in 'Auger hot spots': lower-energy sites that are present because of energy disorder. Disorder-enhanced AR is a general effect that is expected to be active in all disordered materials. The observed efficient AR is an issue of concern for devices that work at charge carrier densities in excess of ~10⁻³ charge carriers per quantum dot. At the same time, efficient carrier congregation could be exploited for fast optical switching or to achieve optical gain in the near infrared.
authors.affiliation: 1] Optoelectronic Materials Section, Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 136, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands [2] The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yunan
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authors.lastname: Suchand Sandeep
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authors.forename: Arjan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Houtepen
authors.forename: Laurens D A
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Siebbeles
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