Ultrafast charge transfer enhanced nonlinear optical properties of CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite quantum dots grown from graphene

Halide perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) have exhibited significantly superior nonlinear optical properties compared to traditional semiconductor materials thanks to their peculiar physical and electronic structures. By further improving the nonlinear optical properties of PQDs, it is expected to adapt to ultrafast photonics applications. This work reported the nonlinear optical properties of methylammonium lead bromide-graphene (CH3NH3PbBr3-G) composites synthesized by growing CH3NH3PbBr3 quantum dots directly from a graphene oxide lattice. Our experiments indicate that the combined advantages of the ultrafast charge transport properties from graphene and the strong charge generation efficiency of perovskite can be integrated together. The CH3NH3PbBr3-G composite exhibited enhanced saturable absorption properties with large modulation depth and very low saturation intensity. The transient absorption spectra and carrier dynamics analysis revealed that the enhancement of the saturated absorption properties of the composites mainly arose from the ultrafast charge transfer between G and CH3NH3PbBr3 which promoted the coupling between different states. The results pave the way for the design of optical switches or mode lockers based on saturable absorbers with good performance.