Electrons, Excitons, and Phonons in Two-Dimensional Hybrid Perovskites: Connecting Structural, Optical, and Electronic Properties

Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid perovskites are stoichiometric compounds consisting of alternating inorganic metal-halide sheets and organoammonium cationic layers. This materials class is widely tailorable in composition, structure, and dimensionality and is providing an intriguing playground for the solid-state chemistry and physics communities to uncover structure-property relationships. In this Perspective, we describe semiconducting 2D perovskites containing lead and tin halide inorganic frameworks. In these 2D perovskites, charges are typically confined to the inorganic framework because of strong quantum and dielectric confinement effects, and exciton binding energies are many times greater than kT at room temperature. We describe the role of the heavy atoms in the inorganic framework; the geometry and chemistry of organic cations; and the "softness" of the organic-inorganic lattice on the electronic structure and dynamics of electrons, excitons, and phonons that govern the physical properties of these materials.