Lattice strain causes non-radiative losses in halide perovskites

Timothy W. Jones; Anna Osherov; Mejd Alsari; Melany Sponseller; Benjamin C. Duck; Young-Kwang Jung; Charles Settens; Farnaz Niroui; Roberto Brenes; Camelia V. Stan; Yao Li; Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi; Nobumichi Tamura; J. Emyr Macdonald; Manfred Burghammer; Richard H. Friend; Vladimir Bulović; Aron Walsh; Gregory J. Wilson; Samuele Lilliu; Samuel D. Stranks

doi:10.1039/C8EE02751J

Lattice strain causes non-radiative losses in halide perovskites†

Timothy W. Jones,

‡^a Anna Osherov,‡^b Mejd Alsari,‡^c Melany Sponseller,^b Benjamin C. Duck,

^a Young-Kwang Jung,

^d Charles Settens,^b Farnaz Niroui,^b Roberto Brenes,^b Camelia V. Stan,

^e Yao Li,^ef Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi,

^c Nobumichi Tamura,^e J. Emyr Macdonald,^g Manfred Burghammer,^h Richard H. Friend,^c Vladimir Bulović,^b Aron Walsh,

^di Gregory J. Wilson,

^a Samuele Lilliu

^j and Samuel D. Stranks

*^bc

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a CSIRO Energy Centre, Mayfield West, NSW 2304, Australia

^b Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
E-mail: sds65@cam.ac.uk

^c Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thompson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK

^d Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea

^e Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

^f Xi’an Jiaotong University, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an, China

^g School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK

^h European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France

ⁱ Department of Materials, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK

^j Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK

Abstract

Halide perovskites are promising semiconductors for inexpensive, high-performance optoelectronics. Despite a remarkable defect tolerance compared to conventional semiconductors, perovskite thin films still show substantial microscale heterogeneity in key properties such as luminescence efficiency and device performance. However, the origin of the variations remains a topic of debate, and a precise understanding is critical to the rational design of defect management strategies. Through a multi-scale investigation – combining correlative synchrotron scanning X-ray diffraction and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements on the same scan area – we reveal that lattice strain is directly associated with enhanced defect concentrations and non-radiative recombination. The strain patterns have a complex heterogeneity across multiple length scales. We propose that strain arises during the film growth and crystallization and provides a driving force for defect formation. Our work sheds new light on the presence and influence of structural defects in halide perovskites, revealing new pathways to manage defects and eliminate losses.

This article is part of the themed collections: 2021 EES Lectureship winner: Sam Stranks and Celebrating our 2019 Prize and Award winners

Energy & Environmental Science

Lattice strain causes non-radiative losses in halide perovskites†

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Lattice strain causes non-radiative losses in halide perovskites

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