Magnetic field effects in non-magnetic luminescent materials: from organic semiconductors to halide perovskites

Abstract

Magnetic field effects (MFEs) are used to describe the changes of the photophysical properties (including photoluminescence, electroluminescence, injected current, photocurrent, and etc.) when materials and devices are submitted to the external magnetic field. The MFEs in non-magnetic luminescent materials and devices was first observed in organic semiconductor. In the past two decades, the effects have not only attracted extensive research as an emerging physical phenomenon, but also has been used as a unique experimental method to explore the processes such as charge transport, carrier recombination, and spin polarization in organic semiconductors. Recent studies have found that MFEs can also be observed in metal halide perovskites with strong spin-orbital coupling. Besides expanding the research domain of MFEs, these findings can also be utilized to study the physical mechanism in metal halide perovskites, and then provide insights to improve the performance of perovskite devices. In this review, we focus on the magnetic field effects on the electroluminescence and photoluminescence changes of organic semiconductors and halide perovskites. We review the mainstream theoretical models and representative experimental phenomena to date, and comparatively analyzed the luminescence behavior of organic semiconductors and halide perovskites under magnetic fields. It is hoped that this review can provide some ideas for the research on the MFEs of organic semiconductors and halide perovskites, and contribute to the research of luminescence in organic materials and halide perovskites.