Research topics

Hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

Research work of I. Guralskyi’s group is focused on the development of new hybrid perovskites and semiconducting materials on their base. The key topic of work is the synthesis of hybrid perovskites of different dimensionality, their structural and spectroscopic characterization. We develop new hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites by introducing different organic cations, which can provide the resulting framework
with some specific functionalities. Namely, by introduction of a small aziridinium cation we managed to obtain a series of very rare semiconducting 3D perovskites that are perspective materials for application in photovoltaic cells, LEDs and photodetectors. We have already succeeded to elaborate quantum dots with a tuneable luminescence from these aziridinium-based hybrids. Besides, a series of chiral hybrid perovskites incorporating chiral amino acids was developed in our group.

Spin-crossover switches

The rational choice of ligands and design of complexes allows to obtain new compounds that are able to undergo transition between the low-spin and the high-spin states under the influence of various external factors such as temperature or pressure, effect of guest molecules, light irradiation or magnetic field. The spin transition is followed by a drastic change of magnetic, electrical, mechanical, optical and other physical properties of materials. This effect allows to develop multifunctional switches which are based on SCO complexes. In our team we specialize on the development of new SCO complexes with various transition characteristics and exploration of different ways of their practical application.

Smart microwave materials

One of the challenges of today's industries that utilize radiofrequency radiation is the development of efficient reconfigurable components that can be tuned to support variable frequency bands and communication standards. In our team we develop new materials for effective radiofrequency radiation tuning by means of temperature induced phase transitions. For example, we have hown the ability of FeII spin-crossover complexes, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites which exhibit crystallographic phase transitions and VO2-based polymer composites to tune radiofrequency radiation.

Functional chiral materials

One of the scientific directions, realized in our team, is development of new chiral compounds and materials. Breaking of the spatial parity of the system and can provide a material with physical properties associated with chirality like circular dichroism, nonlinear optical responses, ferroelectricity and other. For example, introduction of chiral anions into spin-crossover complexes or chiral cations into hybrid perovskites allowed us to obtain new compounds with molecular asymmetry. Obtained chiral spin-crossover materials are characterized by switchable circular dichroism and can be potentially integrated into various photonic devices operating in UV and visible regions. Chiral perovskites, on their turn, can be potentially applied for fabrication of circularly polarized LEDs and 3D displays, as circularly polarized light photodetectors, for bioresponsive imaging, etc.