No abstract

We show the influence of species present in precursor solution during formation of lead halide perovskite materials on the structural defects of the films. The coordination of lead by competing solvent molecules and iodide ions dictate the type of complexes present in the films. Depending on the processing conditions all PbIS5 (+) , PbI2 S4, PbI3 S3 (-) , PbI4 S2 (2-) , PbI5 S2 (3-) , PbI6 (4-) and 1D (Pb2 I4 )n chains are observed by absorption measurements. Different parameters are studied such as polarity of the solvent, concentration of iodide ions, concentration of solvent molecules and temperature. It is concluded that strongly coordinating solvents will preferentially form species with a low number of iodide ions and less coordinative solvents generate high concentration of PbI6 (-) . We furthermore propose that all these plumbate ions may act as structural defects determining electronic properties of the photovoltaic films.

Apatite-coated Ag/AgBr/TiO2 was prepared by deposition of Ag as novel metal to generate electron−hole pairs by extending the excitation wavelength to the visible-light region, AgBr, and hydroxy apatite as photosensitive material and adsorption bioceramic, respectively. The energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry clearly showed the presence of Ti, Ag, Ca, and P elements on the surface of catalyst. The bactericidal experiments in dark media indicated that only the novel catalyst shows inhibiting growth of bacteria in this case. A transmission electron microscopy image illustrated that catalyst nanoparticles adhere to the outer membrane of the cell and act as an inhibitor to the nourishment of bacteria from aqueous media. The novel catalyst also showed higher photocatalytic activity compared to Ag/AgBr/TiO2 photocatalyst under visible-light irradiation. The inactivation of E. coli is due to the ability of the catalyst to adhere to the outer cell in addition to destruction of the cell wall by various reactive species.