Lead halide perovskites are a remarkable class of materials that have emerged over the past decade as being suitable for application in a broad range of devices, such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes, lasers, transistors, and memory devices, among others. While they are often solution-processed semiconductors deposited at low temperatures, perovskites exhibit properties one would only expect from highly pure inorganic crystals that are grown at high temperatures. This unique phenomenon has resulted in fast-paced progress toward record device performance; unfortunately, the basic science behind the remarkable nature of these materials is still not well understood. This review assesses the current understanding of the photoluminescence (PL) properties of metal halide perovskite materials and highlights key areas that require further research. Furthermore, the need to standardize the methods for characterization of PL in order to improve comparability, reliability and reproducibility of results is emphasized.
In recent years, metal halide perovskites have generated tremendous interest for optoelectronic applications and their underlying fundamental properties. Due to the large electron-phonon coupling characteristic of soft lattices, self-trapping phenomena are expected to dominate hybrid perovskite photoexcitation dynamics. Yet, while the photogeneration of small polarons was proven in low dimensional perovskites, the nature of polaron excitations in technologically relevant 3D perovskites, and their influence on charge carrier transport, remain elusive. In this study, we used a combination of first principle calculations and advanced spectroscopy techniques spanning the entire optical frequency range to pin down polaron features in 3D metal halide perovskites. Mid-infrared photoinduced absorption shows the photogeneration of states associated to low energy intragap electronic transitions with lifetime up to the ms time scale, and vibrational mode renormalization in both frequency and amplitude. Density functional theory supports the assignment of the spectroscopic features to large polarons leading to new intra gap transitions, hardening of phonon mode frequency, and renormalization of the oscillator strength. Theory provides quantitative estimates of the charge carrier masses and mobilities increase upon polaron formation, confirming experimental results. Overall, this work contributes to complete the scenario of elementary photoexcitations in metal halide perovskites and highlights the importance of polaronic transport in perovskite-based optoelectronic devices.
Antisolvent crystallization methods are frequently used to fabricate high-quality perovskite thin films, to produce sizable single crystals, and to synthesize nanoparticles at room temperature. However, a systematic exploration of the effect of specific antisolvents on the intrinsic stability of multicomponent metal halide perovskites has yet to be demonstrated. Here, we develop a high-throughput experimental workflow that incorporates chemical robotic synthesis, automated characterization, and machine learning techniques to explore how the choice of antisolvent affects the intrinsic stability of binary perovskite systems in ambient conditions over time. Different combinations of the endmembers, MAPbI3, MAPbBr3, FAPbI3, FAPbBr3, CsPbI3, and CsPbBr3, are used to synthesize 15 combinatorial libraries, each with 96 unique combinations. In total, roughly 1100 different compositions are synthesized. Each library is fabricated twice using two different antisolvents: toluene and chloroform. Once synthesized, photoluminescence spectroscopy is automatically performed every 5 minutes for approximately 6 hours. Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) is then utilized to map the time- and compositional-dependent optoelectronic properties. Through the utilization of this workflow for each library, we demonstrate that the selection of antisolvent is critical to the stability of metal halide perovskites in ambient conditions. We explore possible dynamical processes, such as halide segregation, responsible for either the stability or eventual degradation as caused by the choice of antisolvent. Overall, this high-throughput study demonstrates the vital role that antisolvents play in the synthesis of high-quality multicomponent metal halide perovskite systems.
The paper presents the results of measurements of XPS valence band spectra of SiO2/MAPbI3 hybrid perovskites subjected to irradiation with visible light and annealing at an exposure of 0-1000 hours. It is found from XPS survey spectra that in both cases (irradiation and annealing) a decrease in the I:Pb ratio is observed with aging time, which unambiguously indicates PbI2 phase separation as a photo and thermal product of degradation. The comparison of the XPS valence band spectra of irradiated and annealed perovskites with density functional theory calculations of the MAPbI3 and PbI2 compounds have shown a systematic decrease in the contribution of I 5p-states and allowed us to determine the threshold for degradation, which is 500 hours for light irradiation and 200 hours for annealing.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials family with its many members and different properties has recently drawn great attention. Thanks to their atomic thickness and smooth surface, 2D materials can be constructed into heterostructures or homostructures in the fashion of out-of-plane perpendicular stacking or in-plane lateral stitching, resulting in unexpected physical and chemical properties and applications in many areas. In particular, 2D metal-semiconductor heterostructures or homostructures (MSHSs) which integrate 2D metals and 2D semiconductors, have shown great promise in future integrated electronics and energy-related applications. In this review, MSHSs with different structures and dimensionalities are first introduced, followed by several ways to prepare them. Their applications in electronics and optoelectronics, energy storage and conversion, and their use as platforms to exploit new physics are then discussed. Finally, we give our perspectives about the challenges and future research directions in this emerging field.