{"id":8598,"date":"2021-01-05T11:34:17","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T11:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=8598"},"modified":"2021-01-05T11:34:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T11:34:17","slug":"scientists-use-an-x-ray-laser-to-observe-the-formation-of-polarons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/scientists-use-an-x-ray-laser-to-observe-the-formation-of-polarons\/8598\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists use an X-ray laser to observe the formation of polarons"},"content":{"rendered":"
Polarons are distortions in a material’s atomic lattice that form around a moving electron in a few trillionths of a second, then quickly disappear. Although polarons are temporary, they affect a material’s behaviour, and could be responsible for lead hybrid perovskites solar cells<\/a> being so efficient in the laboratory.<\/p>\n Aaron Lindenberg, an investigator with the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) at SLAC and associate professor at Stanford who led this new research, said: “These materials have taken the field of solar energy research by storm because of their high efficiencies and low cost, but people still argue about why they work.<\/p>\n “The idea that polarons may be involved has been around for a number of years. But our experiments are the first to directly observe the formation of these local distortions, including their size, shape and how they evolve.”<\/p>\n Previous studies at SLAC examined the nature of perovskites using X-ray beams. Among other findings, the team revealed that light whirls atoms around in perovskites, and they also measured the lifetimes of acoustic phonons \u2013 sound waves \u2013 that carry heat through the materials.<\/p>\nCapturing atomic motions of polarons<\/h3>\n