Project I – Growth of Single Crystal Transition Metal Perovskite Chalcogenides

In recent years semiconducting organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite materials have gained much interest due to their outstanding optoelectronic properties for use in solar cells and lighting applications. A major drawback of these materials is related to their toxicity and chemical instability. Recently, purely inorganic transition metal perovskite chalcogenides (TMPC) have been synthesized that exhibit promising (opto-)electronic properties and may even allow opto- electrochemical applications. Compared to their perovskite oxide counterparts of type ABO₃ (A = alkali, alkaline, or rare earth metal, B = transition metal) with a large electronic bandgap (E_G > 3eV), many perovskite chalcogenides exhibit an electronic bandgap in visible light spectrum that is related to the replacement of O by S or Se in the crystal lattice and which may enable a broad spectrum of applications. In this work, the piezoelectric properties of the new compound semiconductor material stand in the foreground.

Entering now into the third phase, this project aims to grow crystalline (single ~ and poly ~) BaZrS₃ layers as already developed in the first and second project phase and apply them in electronic test devices for regenerative energy harvesting. For this purpose, the piezo and potentially ferroelectric material properties will be studied using fundamental materials characterization tools as well as application related test environments. The final goal is to build a simple demonstrator which converts mechanical into electrical energy.

Principal Investigators

Doctoral Researchers