Mechanochemical Synthesis of Defect Tolerant Semiconductors
Category: Research Poster
Author(s): Persephone Jordano
Presenter(s): Persephone Jordano
Mentors(s): Autumn Peters, James Neilson
Semiconductors are used in a variety of technologies, including solar panels. Currently, the semiconductors within solar panels utilize rare earth minerals and are defect intolerant. Rare earth minerals can be toxic to the environment and human welfare depending on mining conditions. A specific crystal structure called a perovskite with formula of ABX3 has become relevant as a viable type of semiconductor, however they sometimes still utilize similar metals. As a result, there has been an investigation towards hybrid hollow organic-inorganic perovskite (HOIP) semiconductors, with a focus on methylammonium tin iodide (MASnI3) HOIPs doped with ethylene diammonium (en) at varying percent incorporations. This MAenSnI3 has proved to be defect tolerant and viable as a semiconductor, however the solution based synthesis is time and energy intensive, with varying results. Therefore, we investigated an alternative mechanochemical method of production, using a high energy ball mill. We synthesized various percent incorporations of MAenSnI3 and analyzed the product to check for purity and that we made what was intended. Our new mechanochemical synthesis method resulted in viable MAenSnI3 that could be utilized as semiconductors in solar cells.