What characteristics should a highly stable organic-inorganic hybrid structure have?

What is it about?

The average lifespan of dogs is in the range of 10-15 years, and the record is around 30 years. Would you believe possible we could extend the average lifespan of dogs to 90 years, if they are taken care really well? Organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskites have been shown to be really good for solar cells, but they are also known to be unstable. After a few years’ great effort, they can now last for about one year. Can we continue to improve their long-term stability to match that of Si solar cells? Although the jury is still out for this question, it would certainly be helpful to have a prototype long-lived organic-inorganic hybrid structure. We want to know what characteristics such a structure has, if it does exist?

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Why is it important?

It turns out there are indeed some organic-inorganic hybrid semiconductors that have documented long-term stability around 15 years. Although still not as good as Si, it is adequate for most common electronic applications. They are a group of II-VI based organic-inorganic hybrids. A recent study shows what key characteristics these materials have making them last longer than most organic-inorganic hybrid structures reported. They are also structurally the most perfect among all the man-made superstructures.