IIT-G team exploring perovskite nanocrystal engineering for optoelectronics applications

NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (PTI): Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati are exploring novel methods to finetune perovskite nanocrystals for optoelectronics applications.
Optoelectronics is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light.
According to officials, there is extensive research all over the world in developing materials for use in solar cells and light-emitting devices. Of the many materials being developed, perovskites are the most common ones.
Perovskites are a family of crystals that have optoelectronic properties that are suitable for light-emitting and light-absorbing applications.
Perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) – crystals that are a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair – are in particular being extensively explored because of their specific optoelectronic properties such as tunable bandgaps, narrow emission, and strong light-absorption coefficients.
The ongoing research has also been published in ‘Chemistry-A European Journal’.
“Despite the promise, the use of perovskite nanocrystals in solar cells and light-emitting applications has been hindered by their poor stability in air and moisture. While many research groups have been working towards overcoming the water sensitivity of perovskite nanocrystals, we studied ways in which water sensitivity can be used constructively,” said Tushar Debnath, Ramanujan faculty, Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT Guwahati.
“The team capitalised on the highly ionic nature of the perovskite crystal structure to engineer water-triggered chemical transformation to produce stable and bright PNCs. They have reviewed earlier research on interfacial chemistry between aqueous and non-aqueous phases and the effects of doping on the interaction between water and the perovskite nanocrystals,” he added.
Debnath explained that the review shows that water can be good for perovskites if it is utilised properly and may lead to the development of several engineered structures.
The researchers have proposed various water-trigger approaches that can be easily extended to tailor many perovskites with different compositions and to make several perovskite heterostructures.