From colossal magnetoresistance to solar cells: An overview on 66 years of research into perovskites

Abstract

Perovskites are a huge family of compounds to which the natural titanium mineral CaTiO 3 is the common ancestor. The cubic structure looks apparently simple, but the variety of metal ions and mixtures thereof that fit into a perovskite lattice is tremendous. Even in the case that the ionic radii do not allow for a perfect cubic ordering, there are various superstructures and orbital-ordering effects to cope elegantly with distortions. The compositional and structural flexibility offers a large toolbox to design and synthesize perovskites with tailored properties searched for by physicists, chemists, materials scientists and device engineers. These materials are equally of interest for fundamental studies and for applied research while both viewpoints cross-fertilize each other regularly. Our overview starts with the discovery of ferromagnetism in manganites in 1950 and ranges until 2016: Today, halide perovskites are fully in focus for their potential in photovoltaic applications. This is certainly not an endpoint, but another milestone in a long series of often-unexpected discoveries on an 'evergreen material'.Ball-and-stick model of the ideal cubic perovskite structure. The cation at the central position or 'B site' (small black dot) defines the group name (e.g., titanates) and plays a key role for the physical properties of the material.

Formate-mediated magnetic superexchange in the model hybrid perovskite [(CH3)2NH2]Cu(HCOO)3

“…In this regard, an exemplary family of materials is that of inorganic transition metal oxide perovskites with generic chemical formula ABO 3 . 1 In these systems, a deep understanding of how the crystal structure is related to materials properties has been developed, alongside exceptional discoveries of technologically important properties such as multiferroicity 2,3 and colossal magnetoresistance. 4,5 Compared to the inorganic transition metal oxide perovskites, hybrid organic-inorganic coordination polymers are a relatively young class of materials in which a transition metal is coordinated by polydentate organic ligands forming extended periodic structures.…”

Perovskite phases in the A–R–Fe–O systems, where A – alkaline-earth; R – rare-earth metal

“…Сполуки ABO3 належать до родини перовскітів, що становлять важливий клас функціональних матеріалів. Багато з них уже застосовують як каталізатори, електроди, сенсори тощо [1,2]. Однак ґрунтовне дослідження таких, на перший погляд, простих сполук залишається актуальним, зважаючи на величезну толерантність структурного типу CaTiO3 та його похідних, а також широкий спектр притаманних для них фізичних властивостей.…”

Propiedades físicas de estructuras tipo perovskita: Síntesis y aplicaciones

“…Por la gran variedad de cationes que la estructura puede acomodar se encuentran que los materiales tipo perovskita tienen propiedades que los hace útiles en aplicaciones de energía, grabación magnética, sensores, entre otros [27]. Un primer parámetro para establecer la estabilidad desde el punto de vista estructural es el factor de tolerancia, descrito por la Ecuación (1) [28], donde RA, RB y RO son los radios iónicos de los átomos A, B y oxígeno respectivamente.…”