Metal Halide Perovskites are a new class of semiconductor materials that have really good electronic properties. Not only are they more adaptable and cheaper to produce compared to current semiconductors, but they also promise a new era of innovation in technology. Perovskites have already found their way into groundbreaking devices like perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs), offering the tantalizing prospect of shifting from rigid screens and gadgets to flexible, wearable electronics.
Yet, like any promising technology, perovskites LEDs come with their own set of challenges. Firstly, perovskites contain halide elements (the elements on the last column of the periodic table), which corrode metals. Now, why is this a big deal? Picture perovskite LEDs as a layer cake: you have electrode layers, carrier layers, and the perovskite layers, with the electrodes being made of metals. The main headache in these devices lies in the degradation of electrodes due to halide species, resulting in shorter device lifespans. To make matters trickier, previous research has focused solely on using gold, a pricey metal, as one of the electrodes. These issues have made commercializing these new technologies quite challenging.
Acknowledging these obstacles, we first swapped gold for copper, a more affordable metal. However, copper is more susceptible to halides, leading to quicker degradation. To address this, we explored the prospect of incorporating a layer of bismuth—a metal that doesn’t react with halides—as a protective shield. If effective, this could prolong the lifespan of perovskite LEDs and increase their commercial appeal.
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