Internship: Electrodeposition of promising CsAuX3 lead free semiconductors thin films for photovoltaics and photocatalysis applications

The semiconductor industry for (photodetectors, photovoltaics..) is looking for materials to replace conventional materials (silicon, GaAs in particular) or even promising materials but with their own limitations in terms of availability, environmental or energy impact, toxicity,… In this context, our teams are studying a new family of lead-free double perovskite semiconductors based on oxidized form of the Gold, namely Cs₂Au⁺Au³⁺X₆.

The collaborating teams of IPVF/IRCP are looking for a motivated Master intern with a strong interest in nanomaterials, semiconductors from applications in photovoltaics and photocatalysis. In the past years, our teams have developed an electrodeposition/ oxidation technique to turn easily deposition gold thin films into perovskite thin films. However, despite the deposition of such pure inorganic perovskite into continuous thin films with minimal roughness still need to be improved for future integration in operating devices.  

Therefore, the main task of the recruited applicant will be to improve the conventional deposition techniques to improve the quality of the deposited films. Such thins film fabrication steps will be performed in the IRCP/Chimie Paristech laboratories in Paris City center. A second step of the project will be to characterize the fabricated films via various state-of the-art techniques (UV-Visible absorption, Photoluminescence, Raman, XPS, SEM).

Bibliography : Py‐Renaudie, A et al. , Guided Search to Self‐Healing in Semiconductors. Advanced Functional Materials, 34(11), 2309107.

Lindquist, Kurt P., et al. “Stabilizing Au2+ in a mixed-valence 3D halide perovskite.” Nature Chemistry 15.12 (2023): 1780-1786.

Supervisors: Volovitch Polina and Géraud Delport 
Emails: polina.volovitch@chimieparistech.psl.eu and geraud.delport@cnrs.fr