Project description
Extraordinary materials gain significant stability via a self-assembly process
Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as thin films often have unique optical, electrical, mechanical and magnetic properties of great interest to scientists and engineers. When two of these are combined (creating 2D or 3D heterostructures), the exotic and extraordinary properties enable innovation and devices with ground-breaking performance. Halide perovskites are an emerging family of tuneable semiconductors whose ease of processability means they are also rather unstable as 2D heterostructures when produced with conventional processing methods. The EU-funded HeteroPlates project is developing approaches to deliver highly stable 2D halide perovskite heterostructures for the next generation of optoelectronics by harnessing colloidal self-assembly concepts.
Objective
Soaring demand for energy calls for out of the box thinking in research and design of materials to enable technology far beyond today’s standards.
What would be the perfect material for light mater interaction? What if we could utilize natural processes and assemble such a material, monolayer by monolayer with exquisite control over the resulting electronic structure. HeteroPlates will address these challenges using halide perovskite two dimensional nanoplates as building blocks and test beds for these ideas.
Metal halide perovskite are exciting the scientific community with high conversion efficiency and ease of device processability. But this is a double edge sword since it deems long term device stability an ongoing challenge, especially where perovskites interface other materials and create heterostructures.
Perovskite heterostructures play a crucial role, they influence electronic structure and affect device functionality, efficiency and most importantly stability. It is therefore critical to understand hetero-epitaxial growth and develop methods to create perovskite heterostructures and interfaces in a controlled fashion and characterize them at these length scales. My research program HeteroPlates will employ a bottom-up approach, taking advantage of the natural stability of colloidal 2D nanoplates, their atomically flat surfaces and tendency to self-organize. By means of colloidal synthesis, perovskite will grow, be grown and self -assembled into uniform monolayer controlled heterostructures. Using specially developed characterization methods we will achieve ground breaking control over imaging resolution of heterostructures.
These methods will be employed to create Proof-of-concept devices with new functionalities, aiming for translation of knowledge and methodologies garnered from colloidal heterostructures to higher hierarchy devices, serving future generations.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-STG - Starting GrantHost institution
32000 Haifa
Israel