Hybrid organic–inorganic halide

perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic

devices
P.C. Harikesh, Benny Febriansyah, Rohit Abraham John, and
Nripan Mathews
Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites have been recently explored as memristive
devices that can be programmed to two or more stable conductance states for analog
computing. The wide variety and range of optoelectronic phenomena these materials portray
offer immense potential to develop scaled-in neuromorphic devices and architectures
with multibit memory storage and multimodal accessibility. This article provides a general
summary of the structural and optoelectronic characteristics of this material class that could
be utilized for neuromorphic computing, discusses insights into the underlying switching
mechanisms, and reviews recent developments in the field of halide perovskite-based
neuromorphic devices.

Introduction
With the end of Moore’s Law projected, conventional com-
puting architectures face challenges, including the heat wall,
the memory wall, and latency wall. To fulfil the ever-growing
appetite for information processing, new concepts of brain-
inspired computing are being envisioned to overcome the pre-
viously mentioned bottlenecks of traditional von Neumann
hardware architectures.
Neuromorphic electronics—an approach in which devices
and circuits merge memory and processing, analogous to syn-
apses and neurons in the human brain—promises to signifi-
cantly improve the efficiency of artificial neural networks by
in-memory computing. Memristors (memory + resistor), which
are thin-film devices that “remember” their resistance history,
are key enablers for this concept because they allow multi-
ply accumulate operations (a benchmarking step in comput-
ing) to be performed in parallel at the location of data. The
first generation of neuromorphic synaptic devices were based
on oxide memristors and have demonstrated advantages in
scalability, speed, and power consumption. However, “scal-
ing up” toward a practical system size by “scaling down”
device dimensions is increasingly challenging. Alternatively,
“scaling-in”—an approach to boost the information space
­ halide perovskites (HPs) are one such technology platform
per cell (e.g.,  expanding from binary conductance states [on
and off] to a range of intermediate conductance states that can
encode more than 1 bit) without escalating the amount of mate-
rials and chip area being utilized, is more feasible and bears
closer resemblance to the plasticity of biological synapses.1
New approaches in materials, device, architecture, and
algorithm design are necessary to emulate the scale, connec-
tivity, and energy efficiency of biological neural networks.
Increasing attention has therefore been given to organic mate-
rials, such as small molecules and polymers whose optoelec-
tronic and charge-transport properties can be tuned through
chemical synthesis and functionalization, while endowing
them with facile and low-cost processability.2,3 These mate-
rials also intrinsically incorporate richer dynamics in their
switching behavior when compared to their inorganic counter-
parts. For example, many of these materials portray short-term
volatile switching behavior that can be consolidated to long-
term conductance/weight changes, bearing close resemblance
to temporal responses such as the calcium effect in biology,
and providing additional temporal nodes to implement cor-
relations and computing.
Hybrid organic–inorganic neuromorphic devices based on

P.C. Harikesh, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; harikesh001@e.ntu.edu.sg

Benny Febriansyah, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; benn0005@e.ntu.edu.sg
Rohit Abraham John, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; rohitabrahamjohn@ntu.edu.sg
Nripan Mathews, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Nripan@ntu.edu.sg
doi:10.1557/mrs.2020.193

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 Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic devices

that offers large degrees of freedom or state variables. Similar
to organic semiconductors, halide perovskites (see  MRS
Bulletin, June 2020, for more information) allow facile depo-
sition via solution processing/vacuum techniques while main-
taining excellent semiconducting properties. In addition, the
organic cation in the hybrid structure enables structural tun-
ability allowing modulation of charge transport and bandgap
of the material. Unique to halide perovskites is the coexis-
tence and coupling of ionic and electronic components of the
current, resulting in tunable majority carrier concentrations,
above bandgap photovoltages and formation of local n- and
p-doped regions. This is enabled by its unique orbital charac-
teristics with an antibonding valence-band maximum (VBM)
and a bonding conduction-band minimum (CBM) resulting in
defect tolerance.4 Hence, any crystallographic defects induced
by ionic migration and accumulation will only induce shallow
traps in the material, allowing doping and hence local modula-
tion of carriers.
All of these phenomena result in a modulated hysteretic
operation, which can be tuned on demand to meet the analog
switching requirements of weighted synapses in an artificial
neural network.5 Additionally, their facile solution-based low-
temperature fabrication would facilitate large-scale realization
of dense crossbar arrays (a collection of switches arranged in a
matrix configuration) at a low cost. Since this material class is
a debutant in the field of memristor technology, this article pri-
marily focuses on the unique material characteristics of HPs,
recent developments in HP neuromorphic devices, provides
insights into their switching mechanisms, and considers fur-
ther material and device development strategies.
Structure of hybrid halide perovskites
Halide perovskites typically feature a three-dimensional (3D)
structure with the general formula ABX3.6 They comprise
an anionic network of corner-sharing octahedra that are cre-
ated by simple cubic arrangement of divalent B-site cations,

Figure 1.  (a) ABX3 perovskite structure; (b) tuning the dimensionality of a perovskite using organic spacers; (c) common organic cations used
in mixed dimensional perovskites. Reprinted with permission from Reference 13. © 2019 Nature Publishing Group. (d) The band structure of
a perovskite showing defect tolerance. (e) Bandgap tuning. Reprinted with permission from Reference 47. © 2017 AAAS. (f) Carrier tuning via
compositional engineering. Reprinted with permission from Reference 8. © 2014 AIP Publishing. (g) Halide and cation migration in perovskites.
Reprinted with permission from Reference 9. © 2016 American Chemical Society. Large-scale facile processing techniques for printing
perovskite layers: (h) spray coating, (i) evaporation, and (j) slot die coating.15 Note: CB, conduction band; VB, valence band.

642
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 Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic devices
bridged by halide anions (X = Cl–, Br–, I–). Monovalent A-site
cations occupy cuboctahedral cavities in the B-X sublat-
tice, providing charge balance (Figure 1a–c). While halide
perovskites containing Pb2+ at the B-site have attracted intense
interest in recent years, other B-site metals have been incor-
porated, especially isovalent Sn2+ and Ge2+. The A-site can be
occupied by an alkali metal cation such as Rb+ or Cs+, but in
most cases, small organic cations such as methylammonium
(MA+) or formamidinium (FA+), are incorporated, resulting in
hybrid organic–inorganic structures.
Prototypical 3D lead-halide perovskites are direct-band-
gap semiconductors with VBM composed primarily of  halide
p orbital and lead s orbital, and CBM having mostly lead
p orbital character (Figure 1d).7 This allows for tuning of the
bandgap by changing the halide ion (Figure 1e). In addition,
the antibonding nature of the VBM results in defect toler-
ance (the crystallographic defects do not induce deep traps in
the material) as previously discussed and enables facile car-
rier tuning (p- to n-type) by slight modulations in the metal
cation to halide ratios8 (Figure 1f). The connected lattice and
the defect tolerance allow the ions to move without signifi-
cantly degrading the semiconducting property (Figure 1g).9
Meanwhile, the A-site cations do not contribute to the
band extrema. However, they can still affect electronic prop-
erties via indirect steric or hydrogen-bonding interaction
with the halometallate octahedra. Moving to relatively larger
A-site organic cations yields lower-dimensional 2D, 1D, or
0D derivatives, depending on the size, conformation, and
functionality of the organic species.10,11 In addition, alloying
2D and 3D perovskites can result in intermediate materials
called Ruddlesden–Popper or Dion–Jacobson HPs featuring
contiguous multiple inorganic layers (“n”) separated by the
organic spacer12–14 (Figure 1b–c). Such versatility provides a
large compositional parameter space that can be tweaked to
tune memory and synaptic behaviors for neuromorphic com-
puting. Furthermore, the presence of organic cation and the
ionic nature of the material allows dissolution of the material
in common polar solvents allowing facile large area deposi-
tion (Figure 1h–j).15
State-of-the-art halide perovskite
neuromorphic devices
State-of-the-art memristive HP neuromorphic devices include
demonstrations on iodide and bromide compositions of 3D
perovskites, utilizing electrochemical metallization, ionic-
electronic coupling, local and interfacial doping, and ion and
vacancy migration. Huang et al.16 and Lee et al.17 reported
demonstrations of HP-based artificial synapses in 2016 util­
izing vacancy-driven halogen migration as the underlying
mechanism. Apart from the conventional DC memristor I–V
(current-voltage) characteristics, synaptic features such as
short- and long-term plasticity with frequency and amplitude
dependent modulations, including spike-timing dependent
plasticity (STDP) (a biological process that forms the basis
for associative learning by adjusting the strength of synaptic
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connections based on relative timing between pre- and post-
synaptic action potentials) were demonstrated for 5–7 meta-
stable conductance states.
Ren et al.18 followed with the first demonstration on 2D
perovskite, but with limited analysis of the synaptic char-
acteristics. In 2018, Mathews et al.5 coupled fast electronic
transitions with slow drift-diffusive ionic kinetics of HPs to
enable energy-efficient analog-like switching of five meta-
stable conductance states. A combination of ion migration
and carrier injection barrier modulation explained the differ-
ence in the degree of synaptic plasticity, more notable for the
larger organic ammonium and formamidinium cations than
the inorganic cesium counterpart, reporting the first system-
atic investigation on the effect of cation compositional space
on memristive and synaptic characteristics. This report also
demonstrated the first mini array of HP memristors, and
the first simulation of a neural network to recognize hand-
written digits selected from the Modified National Institute
of Standards and Technology database (a large database of
handwritten digits that is commonly used for training vari-
ous image processing systems) based on HP memristor data.
Based on the STDP characteristics of HP synapses, 6000
images trained in simulation resulted in an accuracy of 80.8%.
This field has since then witnessed numerous impressive
demonstrations, including, but not limited to, the first dem-
onstration of crossbars of evaporated HP memristors,19 uni-
polar memristor crossbar array accessed with one diode–one
resistor (1D–1R) schemes,20 and photonic synapses using
perovskite quantum dots.21 State-of-the-art reports on halide
perovskite memristors claim an on-off of ∼109 22 retention =
5 × 104 s23 and endurance of 2700 cycles.24
Operative mechanisms
Despite these demonstrations, the dependence on the com-
position of cations and anions in the ABX3 structure, the
morphology of the thin films, dimensionality, choice of
interfaces, the applied electric fields, and scanning rates are
yet to be clearly established to maximize the memristive
performance of halide perovskites. Most halide perovskite-
based device architectures try to emulate the biological
synaptic structure and behavior (Figure 2a). The follow-
ing discusses the mechanisms (Figure 2b–d), which enable
conductivity tuning, and hence memristive and synaptic
characteristics in HPs.
Electrode interfacial reactions
The simplest mechanism modulating the conductivity of HP
memristors is based on the electrochemical reaction of HPs with
the metallic electrodes leading to filament formation by metal
ion diffusion (Figure 2b). Studies have revealed redox reactions
between perovskite and the metal contact, which result in the
reduction of perovskite phase resulting in formation of metallic
lead (Pb0) within the HP active layer25 and simultaneous oxida-
tion of metallic contact dependent on the chemical potential of
the metal. Au shows a lower reactivity compared to Ag, Cr, Yb,
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 Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic devices

Figure 2.  (a) Schematic of chemical synaptic transmission. An action-potential causes selective endocytosis and exocytosis of Na+, K+,
and Ca2+ determining the extent of membrane polarization.5 Similar functions are emulated by halide perovskite (HP)-based artificial
synapses where the two electrodes form pre- and post-neurons, and conductance of the HP film acts as the synaptic weight. (b) Filament
formation modulating the conductivity of the perovskite channel via metal ion/halide diffusion. (c) Application of electric field changes the
material properties locally through ionic migration, also leading to interfacial doping of the HP-transport layer interfaces in turn modifying
the (d) charge injection efficiency, and thus modulating the conductivity of the channel in a synaptic device. Note: PEDOT:PSS, poly​
(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate).

or Al as revealed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
(Figure 3a). Some metals such as Ag can react with halide
species in the material to form silver halides26 through an inter-
mediate reaction involving HI or HBr. Since HBr and Br2 are
less volatile compared to their iodide counterparts, the reaction
is slower in case of the bromide-based perovskites enabling
possible modulation of the rate of conductance change and
hence the learning rate of artificial synapses by modulating
the anionic compostion. Although there are several reports on
memristive and neuromorphic devices based on this mecha-
nism with perovskite directly exposed to metals,27,28 the role
of HP in such cases seem to be to primarily act as a scaffold
for filament formation. Although this configuration portrays a
minimal electrode-HP-electrode structure without additional
layers, the long-term cyclability of these devices could be an
issue considering the limited reversibility of such reactions
with byproducts such as AgI facilitating further degradation.26
Intrinsic ion migration
Anomalous polarization phenomena in perovskite solar cells
such as photocurrent hysteresis, giant dielectric constants and
switchable photovoltaic effects gave the first clues for the pres-
ence of ionic migration in HPs. Direct measurement of ionic
conduction in methyl ammonium lead iodide using galvano-
static and electromotive force (emf) measurements29,30 indi-
cated a net ionic conductivity of 10–9 S/cm, which is of similar
order as its electronic conductivity in ambient atmosphere. The
connected perovskite structure has been shown to facilitate
anionic conduction in several oxide perovskites as well.
Experiments on a Pb/MAPbI3/AgI/Ag reaction cell (Figure
3b–d) indicated that the application of a negative bias at
the Ag electrode resulted in the formation of PbI2 at the
Pb/MAPbI3 interface, proving that iodide ions are the fastest
moving species. The reduction in ionic conductivity with
increasing partial pressure of iodine (Figure 3e) suggested that
iodide vacancies are the major ionic charge carriers. This was
also corroborated by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
mapping, which showed accumulation of iodide ions at the
positive electrode side (Figure 3f–g).31
Such halide vacancy migration can create low resistance
paths on application of higher voltages by formation of fila-
ments leading to increased electronic conductivity. These
filaments can be broken on demand by applying voltages
of opposite polarity, resulting in strong memresistance
(Figure 2b). Since additional layers can be inserted between
the perovskite and electrode layer limiting the reaction

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 Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic devices

Figure 3.  (a) Pb 4f x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra of samples with Al, Yb, Cr, Ag, and Au metals on various perovskite films.
All perovskite/metal interfaces show evidence of redox chemistry indicated by the presence of a Pb0 peak except for Au. Reprinted with
permission from Reference 25. © 2016 ACS Publications. (b) Schematic of the emf cell + Pb|MAPI|AgI|Ag−, (c) image and (d) x-ray diffraction
analysis of the A and B interfaces of the reaction cell after flowing finite amount of current, showing formation of PbI2 at the Pb|MAPI
contact. Reprinted with permission from Reference 29. © 2015 Wiley. (e) Variation of ionic conductivity (red line) and electronic conductivity
(black line) of MAPbI3 with iodine partial pressure. Increased iodine partial pressure reduces the ionic conductivity by passivating the iodine
vacancies and leading to better electronic conductivity. Reprinted with permission from Reference 30. © 2019 American Chemical Society.
(f, g) Scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive spectroscopy images showing halide ion accumulation at the interfaces on
application of a bias. Reprinted with permission from Reference 31. © 2017 Wiley. (h, i) PTIR images showing the accumulation of the
organic cation in MAPbI3 scale bar is 20 mm, and (j) locally induced n- and p-regions observed through Kelvin probe force microscopy
(KPFM). Scale bar = 6 mm. Reprinted with permission from Reference 34. © 2015 Wiley. (k) PPF index variation with increasing pulse
interval: comparison of MAPbBr3, FAPbBr3, and CsPbBr3. (l) Hebbian spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) variant realized in halide
perovskite synapses, widely considered as the first law of synaptic plasticity.5 Note: LTP, long-term plasticity.

with electrodes, devices operating through this mechanism
can be much more stable compared to interfacial reaction
mechanism. The phenomenon can also be fine-tuned by
additional organic layers such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-
thiophene) poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), which
could trap mobile ions leading to subtle changes in conduc-
tivity enabling emulation of more complex synaptic behav-
ior. Such devices can emulate several synaptic functions,
including short- (e.g., paired-pulse facilitation/PPF—an
important form of plasticity that contributes to filtering
and localization) and long-term plasticity (e.g., spike-
timing-dependent plasticity/STDP—an important form of
plasticity that contributes to associative learning and con-
ditioning). While the fast halide ion migration could be
attributed to short-term temporal effects, the organic cation
in mixed dimensional perovskites as well as PEDOT:PSS
layer can slow down the back diffusion of ions enabling
long-term temporal effects.
The methylammonium cation in MAPbI3 is known to
migrate slower than the halide ion. The upper limit for the MA+
diffusion coefficient obtained from 1H NMR and tracer diffu-
sion experiments was 4 × 10–15 cm2/s,32 about six orders slower
than iodide diffusion (2.4 × 10–8 cm2/s).29 Transient capaci-
tance studies33 corroborate this observation and reveal that
even though the concentration of MA+ ions is one order higher
than iodide ions, they exhibit slower diffusion (∼10–12 cm2/Vs)
as opposed to the iodide ions (10–9 cm2/Vs). Nevertheless,
photothermal-induced resonance (PTIR) microscopy studies
(Figure 3h–i) on thin films have indicated aggregation of MA+
ions under electrical bias and illumination, indicating that
MA+ ions may migrate at high enough fields.34 Although this
may not be sufficient to induce low-resistance paths through

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 Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic devices
filament formation, it could lead to doping and modulation of
injection, thus causing subtle changes in conductivity neces-
sary for synaptic devices.
Interfacial doping
Filament formation via halide migration/electrode reaction as
previously discussed will lead to abrupt changes in resistance
of the material and is more suitable to resistive memories with
limited number of states. Neuromorphic devices, on the other
hand, demand multiple conductance states that need to be
accessed on demand via temporally correlated signals (input
voltage pulses that are related to each other when considered
as a series collected over time from a fixed sampling point)
or blind update schemes (symmetric voltage write-pulses of
constant magnitude that are applied to devices to achieve a
linear change in conductance without the need for an addi-
tional read operation). Halide perovskites exhibit a unique
property called defect tolerance that maintains the excellent
semiconducting properties despite the presence of crystallo-
graphic defects due to the presence of ns2 electrons (These
outer shell s electrons can hybridize with halide orbitals to
form antibonding valence-band maximum), a high dielectric
constant, and the presence of the heavy element at the B site.4
This property allows motion of ions to subtly change the elec-
tronic conductivity and injection as demonstrated in switch-
able photovoltaic devices32,35,36 (Figure 2c–d). For example,
PTIR and KPFM studies have shown MA+ ion accumulation
near the electrodes (Figure 3h–j) resulting in n-type doping
near the electrodes. Similar ionic-electronic coupling effects
leading to doping has been observed in lead-free perovskites
and compounds with similar orbital structures36 and has been
implemented as low-power artificial synapses recently where
synaptic weights were tuned based on the size of the cationic
species.5 Larger organic cations of methylammonium and for-
mamidinium exhibited higher modulatable short-term plas-
ticity (STP), long-term plasticity (LTP), and STDP functions
compared to the inorganic cesium, in correlation with their
activation energies for ion migration (Figure 3k–l). Field-
assisted ionic drift and built-in voltage-assisted ionic back
diffusion resulted in self p- and n-doping of the perovskite
active layer and the transport layer interfaces upon application
and removal of poling voltages, modulating the carrier injec-
tion barriers and hence the conductivity. Permanent pinning
of ions at the PEDOT:PSS/perovskite and bathophenanthro-
line (BPhen)/perovskite interfaces at sufficiently large spike
widths and numbers resulted in LTP, while the interplay of
drift-diffusive ionic kinetics induced temporal correlations
within the device, as evident from PPF and STDP functions.
Future directions
Despite the promising results previously discussed, HP-based
memristive implementations still lag in terms of the switch-
ing speed, cycling endurance, and data retention time with
respect to their mature oxide counterparts and require further
methodical studies to establish material-design criteria to
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maximize the switching performance. Systematic investiga-
tions are required to evaluate lead-free alternatives37 such as
bismuth, antimony, and tin-based systems to address toxicity
issues and evaluate stability of the switching materials. The
concept of ionic-electronic coupling for application in neu-
romorphic devices can be extended to other halide perovskite
inspired defect tolerant compounds such as NaSbS2.38 Other
properties that could be exploited include the tendency for
halide perovskites to undergo phase transitions at lower
applied temperatures. For example, MAPbI3 has three struc-
tural phases: a cubic Pm-3 m phase above 330 K, a tetrago-
nal I4/mcm phase from 160 to 330 K, and an orthorhombic
Pnma phase below 160 K.39 The phase-transition process is
typically accompanied by changes in other physical features,
such as absorption and photoluminescence behaviors of the
materials. Since such transitions can also be induced by
other external stimuli (e.g., pressure and light), they can, in
principle, be used for all-optical “write–read–erase” memory
and neuromorphic devices.
From a materials design perspective, most of the investigations
rely on 3D perovskites optimized for photovoltaics and often
overlook the more resistive lower-dimensional perovskites.40 As
indicated earlier, the use of a large organic cation results in the
formation of lower-dimensional 2D, 1D, or 0D halide perovskites.
A majority of the templating organics in low-dimensional HPs
feature frontier orbitals not capable of “interacting” with those
of inorganic lattices, and thus the semiconducting nature of the
materials is dictated mainly by the inorganic B–X components.
Specifically, as the dimensionality decreases, the bandgaps
are found to increase from 3D to 0D HPs as there are fewer
atomic orbitals of B2+ and X– available to contribute to the
bands of the material.41 In addition, the insulating nature of the
organic cations in low-dimensional HPs also provides dielectric
“barriers” to the inorganic lattices leading to strengthened
excitonic binding energy and oscillator strength, relative to
3D materials,42,43 which can be engineered to suit different
memory applications44 with diverse switching mechanisms. If
the templating organic cation in low-dimensional HPs features
a small HOMO-LUMO gap, the relatively close overlap
between energetic levels enables charge-transfer interactions
between the organic and inorganic components.45,46 As such,
the absorption,47 electronic, and conductivity properties of the
overall material can be modulated. The low ionic conductivity
and better stability of the low-dimensional perovskites can
influence the intrinsic ion migration mechanism and the
interfacial reactions. In addition, the difference in interaction
of the orbitals in these materials compared to 3D perovskites
can alter the defect tolerance properties and hence influence
interfacial doping. Although the present report primarily
focuses on electronic-ionic coupling-induced phenomena,
halide systems also demonstrate other interesting ­phenomena
such as optical polarization,48 piezoelectricity,49 spin-dependent
charge transport,50 and ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism,51
which could make them relevant for neuromorphic devices
based on alternative photonic or spintronic architectures.
 Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic devices
From a scalability perspective, most implementations
are still limited to dot-array structures; crossbar integration
with selectors and systematic sneak-path current analyses are
found wanting. From the neuromorphic circuitry perspective,
current HP memristor investigations limit their material and
device analyses to the parameters of a conventional digital
logic and fail to map out the analog programming window of
these devices, which is crucial for artificial neural networks.
While several aspects remain unresolved, we believe that the
combination of the unique properties of halide perovskites
discussed in this report warrants a large number of state vari-
ables that would enable design of novel multilevel analog
memristors for the next generation of “scaled-in” neuromor-
phic devices.
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P.C. Harikesh  is a research staff member
in the Energy Research Institute at Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
He received his PhD degree from the
Interdisciplinary Graduate School, NTU, in
2020. His research included antimony-based
perovskite-inspired compounds for photo-
voltaics. His current research focuses on the
investigation of ionic-electronic-coupled semi-
conductors for novel optical and electronic
applications. Harikesh can be reached by email
at harikesh001@e.ntu.edu.sg.
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Benny Febriansyah is a research staff member
in the Energy Research Institute at Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He
received his BS degree in chemistry and bio-
logical chemistry in 2015 and his PhD degree
in 2020 from NTU. His current research focuses
on understanding the structure−optoelectronic
properties correlations in functional low-
dimensional hybrid perovskites, and improving
the stability and large-scale processability of
perovskite photovoltaics. Febriansyah can be
reached by email at benn0005@e.ntu.edu.sg.
subject • VOLUME 45
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 Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites for scaled-in neuromorphic devices

Rohit Abraham John  is a research fellow at Nripan Mathews  is an associate professor

Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and Provost’s Chair in Materials Science and
Singapore. He received his PhD degree Engineering in the School of Materials Science
from NTU in 2019. His research focuses and Engineering at Nanyang Technological
on neuromorphic electronic devices, oxide University (NTU), Singapore. He obtained
semiconductors, thin-film transistors, and his bachelor’s degree in materials engineer-
memory devices. John can be reached by email ing from NTU and his MSc degree under
at rohitabrahamjohn@ntu.edu.sg. the Singapore-Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Alliance. After obtaining his PhD
degree from Paris VI University, France, he
was a visiting scientist at École Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. His
research interests focus on the development
of novel and inexpensive electronic materials
through cost-effective techniques for electronics and energy conversion. These
include organic−inorganic halide perovskites, metal oxides, and organic thin
films. Mathews can be reached by email at Nripan@ntu.edu.sg.

MAY 2021

Submission Deadline—October 1, 2020

Understanding and Mitigating

Materials Instabilities
Materials stability in the nonequilibrium environment of an electrochemical energy storage
CALL FOR PAPERS

system is a critical issue for device operation and reliability. The shelf life of primary and
rechargeable cell chemistries, together with the cycle life of rechargeable systems, are
specifically dependent on the mechanical, crystallographic, morphological, and chemical
stability of the electrodes and the separators. The acceleration of research and development
activities into new battery chemistries to safely increase energy densities and operational
lifetime has emphasized the need to understand the root cause of cell degradation over time
and use. Examples of recent active research fronts include the chemical and crystallographic
stability of lithium-nickel oxide electrode materials, the mechanical stability of lithium-silicon
negative electrode materials, the chemical and mechanical stability of the solid electrolyte
interface (SEI) layer, and the morphological stability of both metallic sodium and lithium,
particularly with respect to dendrites and failure of the associated separator/electrolyte.
This Focus Issue will highlight approaches to understanding and solving materials instability
problems in battery systems utilizing characterization, modeling, or materials design.

Electrode phase stability and stabilization during storage and cycling

Electrode defect formation and structural degradation during cycling
and remediation approaches
SEI formation, stability and control methodologies
Solid (ceramic or polymer) electrolyte material structural and chemical stability
Characterization and control strategies for electrode-solid electrolyte interface interactions

GUEST EDITORS
Erik G. Herbert, Michigan Technological University, USA
Stephen A. Hackney, Michigan Technological University, USA
Nancy J. Dudney, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
Y. Shirley Meng, University of California, San Diego, USA

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