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Direct integration of optoelectronic arrays with arbitrary non-developable structures

Nature Materials (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

The extension of optoelectronic devices from planar to non-developable structures has led to remarkable success in bionics, optical imaging and soft electronics. However, non-developable optoelectronic devices are achieved mainly via physical deformations and limited to a few geometries. Here we report a self-assembly perovskite strategy for integrating optoelectronic arrays with arbitrary non-developable structures. The perovskite films are grown from a rapid nucleation-dominated crystallization driven by the low energy fluctuation of lead iodide solution, where the fluid precursor can be evenly dispersed along non-developable substrates by surface tension and then self-assembles into compact films through gaseous manipulation. The strategy covers arbitrarily shaped substrates with three-dimensional length scales over 106 orders of magnitude and enables the unique structural manipulations of photodiode arrays with micrometre precision. As a proof of concept, the theoretical focal surface of a single-lens image system is realized into a non-developable sensor, effectively correcting the off-axis coma aberrations compared with its planar or hemispherical counterpart.

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Fig. 1: Self-assembly of perovskite films on non-developable substrates.
Fig. 2: Perovskites on substrates with various spatial structures.
Fig. 3: Integration of an optoelectronic array on a ripple-shaped substrate.
Fig. 4: Sensor based on theoretical predictions for a single-lens image system.

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Data availability

All data in this study are present within the article and its Supplementary Information. Further data are available from the corresponding author upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52025028, 52450138, 52332008, 52302191, 52372214 and U22A20137) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M722309 and 2022TQ0228), funded by the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Frontier Material Physics and Devices, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Intelligent Photoelectric Perception, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies, Center for Energy Conversion Materials & Physics (CECMP), Soochow University, Suzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Meng Wang, Fengren Cao, Linxing Meng, Min Wang & Liang Li

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  1. Meng Wang
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  2. Fengren Cao
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  3. Linxing Meng
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  4. Min Wang
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Contributions

L.L. managed the whole project. L.L. and Meng Wang conceived and designed the experiments. L.L. and Meng Wang analysed the data. Meng Wang performed the experiments and wrote the paper. F.C., L.M., Min Wang and L.L. reviewed the paper. All authors discussed the results and provided comments.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liang Li.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Materials thanks Zhiyong Fan, Kenjiro Fukuda and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Retardation effect caused by spatial variations and optimization using air flows.

a, Schematic illustration of the retardation effect caused by the residual evaporating gas. b–d, Demonstrations of the retardation effect by simulating different exposure rooms for the crystallization of the PbI2 solutions in (b) an open environment, (c) a limited large room and (d) a limited small room. e, f, Morphologies of the film crystallizing at the outer and inner surfaces of a hollow hemisphere under (e) natural conditions and (f) continuous air flow.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Demonstration of an actual operation to deposit an MPI layer on a glass sphere.

For a better demonstration, some processes are simplified. For example, the drying oven is replaced by a blower to provide air flow.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Modification effect of the liquefication process on the film morphology.

a, Time-resolved optical microscope images of a cluster of PbI2 powder in an MA environment. b, Schematic illustration of the healing effect of the liquefaction process on the micro-pinholes. c, d, Demonstration of the healing process observed under an optical microscope in (c) and magnified morphology observed under a scanning electron microscope in (d).

Extended Data Fig. 4 Characterizations of an individual pixel of the rippled-shaped array.

a, SEM image of the vertical section of a single pixel. b–c, Energy band alignment of the vertical photodiode and its working mechanism under self-powered mode; here, light-generated holes and electrons are transported to the corresponding electrodes through built-in electric fields. d, Time-dependent current curve under periodic on/off light and corresponding rise/decay times. e, Dependence of the current and R on the intensity of the incident light (532 nm).

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 5 Integration process and characterization system.

a, Shadow masks and the geometry of the crossbar array. b, Real pictures of the focal substrate and shadow mask. c, Schematic illustrations of the device integration process. d, Pictures of the constructed sensor array on the focal substrate. Inset i shows the coverage by the shadow mask, ii shows the magnified image of the white square frame, and iii highlights the contrast ratio to show the transparent top ITO channel. e–g, Image characterization system. The sensor array is integrated with (e) an optical lens fixed in a front shell and further linked with (f) a print broad circuit through epitaxial circuits. The output signals are collected by the multichannel matrix system in (g).

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1–11, Figs. 1–34, Table 1 and references.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

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Wang, M., Cao, F., Meng, L. et al. Direct integration of optoelectronic arrays with arbitrary non-developable structures. Nat. Mater. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02322-7

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