Researchers have discovered that perovskite crystals can rapidly and reversibly change shape when exposed to light, revealing a unique behavior not seen in traditional semiconductors.
A new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis suggests that perovskites could enable a new class of light-responsive semiconductor devices. Published in Advanced Materials, the research shows that halide perovskite crystals can reversibly change shape when exposed to light.
Although perovskites are semiconductors, they behave quite differently from traditional materials such as silicon and gallium arsenide. They can combine organic and inorganic components and are often less expensive to produce.
“They are ‘smart materials’ that can be tuned to respond to a stimulus in a way we can control,” said Marina Leite, professor of materials science engineering at UC Davis and senior author on the paper. “Their chemistry is very different in a way that can be beneficial for creating devices we couldn’t build before.”
All perovskites share a basic ABX3 crystal structure. This arrangement can be visualized as a central atom surrounded by six others in an octahedron (two pyramids attached at the base), all contained within a cube with atoms at each corner. These materials are already being explored for use in optoelectronics and next generation solar cells.
Rapid and reversible changes
In the study, graduate student Mansha Dubey used laser light to illuminate perovskite crystals and tracked changes in their atomic structure using an X ray probe. The crystals were produced by collaborators Bekir Turedi, Andrii Kanak and Professor Maksym Kovalenko at ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
The experiments revealed that light exposure causes the crystal lattice to shift in a fast and fully reversible way.
“There is a dramatic change in the lattice when you shine light on it, a unique phenomenon that you don’t see with silicon or gallium arsenide,” Leite said. She noted that this photostriction effect can be repeated many times without degrading the material.
Researchers can also adjust how perovskites interact with light by altering their composition, which changes the bandgap, or the range of light wavelengths the material absorbs and emits. Different formulations show varying levels of structural response when exposed to light above this bandgap. The effect can be finely controlled by adjusting both the light’s frequency and its intensity, Leite said.
“It’s not a binary on/off effect; it can be a scaled response, like a dimmer, depending on the light you shine on it,” she said.
Leite said this light driven structural response could lead to new types of devices that can be switched or tuned using light, including sensors and actuators.
Reference: “Reversible, Photo-Induced Lattice Distortions in Halide Perovskites” by Mansha Dubey, Bekir Turedi, Andrii Kanak, Maksym V. Kovalenko and Marina S. Leite, 3 March 2026, Advanced Materials.
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202521800
The work was supported by a federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program to develop new materials for switchable photonic devices, and by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The project made use of the UC Davis Advanced Materials Characterization and Testing (AMCaT) laboratory, established with a grant from NSF.
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