Tunable Electronic Energy Level Alignment and Exciton Diversity in Organic–Inorganic van der Waals Heterostructures

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Authors: Aurélie Champagne, Olugbenga Adeniran, Jonah B. Haber, Francesco Ricci, Antonios M. Alvertis, Zhen–Fei Liu, Jeffrey B. Neaton
Cited by: 3
References: 68

Abstract

van der Waals stacking of two-dimensional (2D) materials offers a powerful platform for engineering material interfaces with tailored electronic and optical properties. While most van der Waals multilayers have featured inorganic monolayers, incorporating molecular monolayers introduces additional degrees of tunability and functionality. Here, we investigate hybrid bilayers composed of atomically thin perylene-based molecular crystals interfaced with monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), specifically MoS 2 and WS 2 . Using the ab initio many-body perturbation theory within the GW approximation and the Bethe–Salpeter equation approach, we predict emergent properties beyond those of the isolated constituent systems. Notably, we find substantial renormalization of monolayer molecular crystal band gap due to TMD-induced polarization. Furthermore, by varying the TMD monolayer, we demonstrate tuning of the energy level alignment of the bilayer and subsequent control over a diversity of lowest-energy excitons, which include strongly bound hybrid excitons and long-lived charge-transfer excitons. These findings establish organic–inorganic van der Waals heterostructures as a promising class of materials for tunable optoelectronic devices and quantum excitonic phenomena, expanding the design space for low-dimensional systems.

Fields of Study & Subjects

2D Materials and Applications

Publication details

Journal / source
ACS Nano
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Volume
20
Issue
8
Pages
6572–6581
Publication date
19 February 2026
Language
EN