Perovskite Puzzle for Revolutionary Functional Materials

Widely spread crystal lattices of perovskites represent a natural flexible platform for chemical design of various advanced functional materials with unique features. An interplay between chemical bonding, defects and crystallochemical peculiarities makes the perovskite structure a “LEGO designer” utilizing natural features of chemical elements of the renowned Mendeleev's Periodic Table (PTE) celebrating its 150-year anniversary. In this mini-review, crystal chemistry and bonding features, physical and functional properties, preparation methods and tuning functional properties with periodicity “tools” of the PTE will be exemplified for legendary families of high-temperature superconductive cuprates, colossal magnetoresistive manganites and hybrid lead halides for a new generation of solar cells.