RII Track-4: Novel Electrochemistry in Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskite Materials

对新型半导体材料的基本理解是开发用于各种智能应用的未来功能电子产品的关键。杂化有机-无机卤化物钙钛矿（HOIP）最近作为一种新的半导体材料家族出现，在各种功能电子器件如太阳能电池和发光器件中具有特殊的前景。然而，对HOIPs的基本固态电化学的了解较少，这阻碍了钙钛矿技术的进展。该项目通过结合布朗大学和国家可再生能源实验室的独特专业知识和能力来应对这一挑战。通过合作活动，将建立一个探索HOIP电化学的新研究平台，这将导致钙钛矿领域许多长期存在的谜团的决定性答案，从而对清洁能源技术的发展产生重大影响。此外，该项目将有助于显著提高PI的研究能力和罗得岛的整体研究基础设施。它还将为布朗大学和罗得岛其他研究所的本科生和研究生提供机会，让他们在未来探索更多的科学科目。该项目的目标是阐明混合有机-无机卤化物钙钛矿（HOIP）材料中的关键电化学现象及其与钙钛矿太阳能电池（PSC）性能的相关性。这一目标的实现将是至关重要的理解许多特殊的行为（如巨大的可切换光伏效应，光电流滞后），已观察到的HOIP。这对将HOIP的应用扩展到新的电子学和离子电子学也具有很强的意义。将经典的电化学方法（基于Tubandt电池）与先进的材料表征方法相结合，将为阐明HOIPs的内在电化学性质建立一个新的研究平台。这将有助于确定HOIP与其他相关器械接触材料的确切迁移离子类型、离子迁移耐受机制和离子反应性。此外，微观结构对HOIPs的电化学的影响将被研究，这将与PSC的性能。基于所有这些基本的理解，HOIP的工程微结构将被合成用于控制电化学行为和增强PSC性能。基于这项研究建立的方法将对理解广泛的混合离子电子半导体及其器件应用产生深远的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估而被认为值得支持。

Fundamental understandings of new semiconductor materials are key to the development of future functional electronics for various smart applications. Hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites (HOIP) have recently emerged as a new family of semiconductor materials with exceptional promise for various functional electronics such as solar cells and light-emitting devices. However, the fundamental solid-state electrochemistry of HOIPs has been less understood, which retards the progress of perovskite technologies. This project addresses this challenge by combining the unique expertise and capacity from Brown University and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Through the collaborative activities, a novel research platform for exploring the HOIP electrochemistry will be established, which will lead to decisive answers to many long-standing mysteries in the perovskite field and thus have great impacts on the development of clean-energy technologies. Furthermore, this project will contribute to significant enhancement in the PI's research capacity and overall research infrastructure in Rhode Island. It will also provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at Brown University and other institutes in Rhode Island to explore more science subjects in the future. The goal of this project is to elucidate the key electrochemistry phenomena in hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskite (HOIP) materials and their correlation to the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Attainment of this goal will be of vital importance for understanding many exceptional behaviors (e.g. giant switchable photovoltaic effects, photocurrent hysteresis) that have been observed in HOIPs. It will also have strong implication for extending the applications of HOIPs to new electronics and iontronics. A new research platform for clarifying the intrinsic electrochemical properties of HOIPs will be established by combining classical electrochemistry methods (based on Tubandt cell) and advanced materials-characterization approaches. This will contribute to the determination of exact migrating ion types, ion-migration tolerance mechanisms, and ion reactivity of HOIPs with other related device contact materials. Further, the effect of microstructures on the electrochemistry of HOIPs will be investigated, which will be correlated to the performance of PSCs. Based on all these fundamental understandings, engineered microstructures of HOIPs will be synthesized for controlled electrochemical behavior and enhanced PSC performance. The established methodology based on this research will have far-reaching impacts on understanding the broad family of mixed ion-electronic semiconductors and their device applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.