Tunable Charge Transport in Soluble Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Semiconductors

The organic–inorganic hybrid tin iodide perovskites, A 2 SnI 4 (A = organic ammonium), consist of inorganic layers bearing electronic functionality and organic layers that act as a template for the structure and are also able to tune the band structure. These hybrids are soluble in a wide range of solvents. Charge-transport measurements performed on single crystals indicate that the conductivity is high, despite band gaps of more than 1 eV, and strongly influenced by the type of cationic species A. The high conductivity is assumed to be due to spontaneous p-type doping in the as-grown crystals. The conductivity can be further enhanced by artificial hole doping. Since these materials can be processed in solution and display electronic performance comparable to conventional inorganic semiconductors, they show promise as a new class of tunable semiconductors of future technological importance.