Light From an Exotic Crystal Semiconductor Could Lead to Better Solar Cells

Scientists have found a new way to control light emitted by exotic crystal semiconductors, which could lead to more efficient solar cells and other advances in electronics, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Materials Today.

Their discovery involves crystals called hybrid perovskites, which consist of interlocking organic and inorganic materials, and they have shown great promise for use in solar cells. The finding could also lead to novel electronic displays, sensors and other devices activated by light and bring increased efficiency at a lower cost to manufacturing of optoelectronics, which harness light.

The Rutgers-led team found a new way to control light (known as photoluminescence) emitted when perovskites are excited by a laser. The intensity of light emitted by a hybrid perovskite crystal can be increased by up to 100 times simply by adjusting voltage applied to an electrode on the crystal surface.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the photoluminescence of a material has been reversibly controlled to such a wide degree with voltage,” said senior author Vitaly Podzorov, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “Previously, to change the intensity of photoluminescence, you had to change the temperature or apply enormous pressure to a crystal, which was cumbersome and costly. We can do it simply within a small electronic device at room temperature.”

Read more at Rutgers University

Image: This is a conceptual view of a transistor device that controls photoluminescence (the light red cone) emitted by a hybrid perovskite crystal (the red box) that is excited by a blue laser beam after voltage is applied to an electrode (the gate). (Credit: Vitaly Podzorov and Yaroslav Rodionov)