Phase segregation in mixed-halide perovskites affects charge-carrier dynamics while preserving mobility

Motti, Silvia G., Patel, Jay B., Oliver, Robert D. J., Snaith, Henry J., Johnston, Michael B. and Herz, Laura M. (2021) Phase segregation in mixed-halide perovskites affects charge-carrier dynamics while preserving mobility. Nature Communications, 12, [6955]. (doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26930-4).

Abstract

Mixed halide perovskites can provide optimal bandgaps for tandem solar cells which are key to improved cost-efficiencies, but can still suffer from detrimental illumination-induced phase segregation. Here we employ optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy to investigate the impact of halide segregation on the charge-carrier dynamics and transport properties of mixed halide perovskite films. We reveal that, surprisingly, halide segregation results in negligible impact to the THz charge-carrier mobilities, and that charge carriers within the I-rich phase are not strongly localised. We further demonstrate enhanced lattice anharmonicity in the segregated I-rich domains, which is likely to support ionic migration. These phonon anharmonicity effects also serve as evidence of a remarkably fast, picosecond charge funnelling into the narrow-bandgap I-rich domains. Our analysis demonstrates how minimal structural transformations during phase segregation have a dramatic effect on the charge-carrier dynamics as a result of charge funnelling. We suggest that because such enhanced recombination is radiative, performance losses may be mitigated by deployment of careful light management strategies in solar cells.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: Silvia G. Motti

Download statistics