A group of scientists has discovered that squeezing a special type of perovskite—a promising material for future solar panels and LED lights—can dramatically improve the way it handles light.
This breakthrough could lead to better, more affordable electronics and energy technologies.
Perovskite is a mineral that’s been getting a lot of attention in recent years, especially for its potential to replace silicon in solar cells.
It’s cheaper, easier to make, and can be used in more flexible devices.
But what makes perovskite even more exciting is that its structure—and therefore its performance—can be changed by applying pressure.
In a new study led by Dr. Yang Song, a chemistry professor at Western University, researchers used intense beams of light at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) to watch what happens when a layered perovskite material is squeezed between two diamonds.
This version of perovskite, called 2D hybrid perovskite, is built like a sandwich with alternating organic and inorganic layers. The way these layers interact affects how the material absorbs and emits light.
When the researchers applied pressure, they noticed the material’s glow—its photoluminescence—became significantly brighter.
They also saw its color gradually shift from green to yellow to red, meaning they could tune the light it gives off by adjusting the pressure. This change could make perovskite especially useful in LED lighting, where precise color control is essential.
The team also made another surprising discovery. When squeezed, the perovskite didn’t just compress evenly.
It flattened more in one direction and its internal structure became less twisted. That’s unusual, as most materials become more distorted under pressure. Instead, this twist-reducing change seemed to help the material glow more efficiently and handle light better overall.
To see these changes in real time, the researchers used bright synchrotron light at the CLS in Saskatchewan and additional data from the Advanced Photon Source in Chicago. This allowed them to track every step of the transformation as it happened.
Dr. Song says the findings are like a roadmap for designing new, high-performance materials. By understanding how pressure changes perovskite at the molecular level, scientists can now more precisely engineer the material for specific uses—from better solar panels to smarter lighting systems.
This study, published in Advanced Optical Materials, brings us one step closer to the next generation of efficient, customizable electronic and energy devices.
