A Three-Kilogram Perovskite Crystal

A Three-Kilogram Perovskite Crystal

Author: ChemistryViews.org

Perovskites have a wide range of possible applications, e.g., in solar cells, LEDs, lasers, and photodetectors. Single crystals of metal halide perovskites (MHPs), such as methylammonium lead tribromide (MAPbBr3), could be used for the detection of high‐energy γ-radiation via photocurrent measurements. However, the volume of laboratory‐grown MHP single crystals for γ‐ray detection has been limited to ca. 1.2 cm3 so far. Methods for growing larger single crystals could allow the implementation of MHPs in high‐energy radiation detection.

Pavao Andričević, László Forró, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, and colleagues have developed the so-called “oriented crystal‐crystal intergrowth” method, which allowed the team to create solution‐grown MAPbBr3 crystals with a volume and mass of over 1,000 cm3 and 3 kg, respectively. First, the team grew small MAPbBr3 single crystals with sizes of ca. 5 mm by gradually increasing the temperature of a room-temperature saturated MAPbBr3 solution. Then, these small crystals were attached to a cotton string and used as seed crystals to grow larger MAPbBr3 single crystals. The resulting crystals were used as building blocks for the desired large single crystal: They were aligned side‐by‐side along with their facets (pictured), immersed in a solution of MAPbBr3, and fused together while slowly increasing the temperature of the solution.

The team used the resulting MAPbBr3 single crystals together with various carbon electrodes for γ‐ray detection from a 60Co source. They found that the measured dose rates show a good correlation with commercially available measuring devices. The perovskite has a high γ-ray tolerance, and the devices show operational stability for over 100 h.


 

 

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