Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV18)
Publication date: 21st February 2018
Metal halide perovskite solar cells have rapidly emerged as leading contenders in photovoltaic technology. Compositions with a mixture of cation species on the A-site show the best performance and have higher stability. However, the underlying fundamentals of such enhancement are not fully understood. Here, we report new atomic-scale insights into the local structures and dynamics of mixed A-cation compositions based on formamidimium lead iodide (CH(NH2)2PbI3 ) doped with Cs+, Rb+ and MA+. Our specific findings include the first indication that substitution of low concentrations of smaller cations on the A-site in CH(NH2)2PbI3 results in a global ‘locking’ of the PbI6 octahedra tilting and reduced lattice dynamics. A key impact of this feature is that the rotational or tumbling motion of the CH(NH2)2+ molecular ion in a locked cage is severely restricted. We discuss the impact of locking on the photovoltaic performance and stability. The results presented here provide key fundamental insights into the origin of the significant enhancements in solar cell performance achieved by using mixed A-site species in lead halide perovskites and will have wide impact on future design strategies.
Reference : Ghosh et al. ACS Energy Lett. 2017, 2, 2424