Rui Sheng

Morphology and Carrier Extraction Study of Organic–Inorganic Metal Halide Perovskite by One- and Two-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy

The past two years have seen the uniquely rapid emergence of a new class of solar-cell-based on mixed organic-inorganic halide perovskite. In this work, we demonstrate a promising technique for studying the morphology of perovskite and its impact on carrier extraction by carrier transport layer using one-photon and two-photon fluorescence imaging in conjunction with time-resolved photoluminescence. This technique is not only effective in separating surface and bulk effects but it also allows the determination of lifetimes in localized regions and local carrier extraction efficiency. The difference in sensitivities of transport materials to grain boundaries and film uniformity is highlighted in this study. It is shown that the PCBM fabricated in this work is more sensitive to film nonuniformity, whereas spiro-OMeTAD is more sensitive to grain boundaries in terms of effective carrier extraction.

Polaronic exciton binding energy in iodide and bromide organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites

The last 4 years have seen the rapid emergence of a new solar cell technology based on organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites, primarily CH3NH3PbI3 and related halides involving Cl and Br. Debate continues on the role of excitons and free carriers in these materials. Recent studies report values of exciton binding energy for the iodide ranging from 0.7 meV to 200 meV, with vastly different implications for device operation and design. In the present work, previously neglected polarons are shown likely to have a major impact in determining excitonic properties. Polaronic exciton binding energies calculated using effective longitudinal optical phonon energies, deduced from permittivity measurements, are shown consistent with experimental energies for good quality samples of CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbBr3, as determined over a large temperature range from optical absorption data. Bandgaps determined simultaneously show a discontinuity at the orthorhombic to tetragonal phase transition for the iodide, but not ...

Acoustic-optical phonon up-conversion and hot-phonon bottleneck in lead-halide perovskites

The hot-phonon bottleneck effect in lead-halide perovskites (APbX3) prolongs the cooling period of hot charge carriers, an effect that could be used in the next-generation photovoltaics devices. Using ultrafast optical characterization and first-principle calculations, four kinds of lead-halide perovskites (A=FA+/MA+/Cs+, X=I−/Br−) are compared in this study to reveal the carrier-phonon dynamics within. Here we show a stronger phonon bottleneck effect in hybrid perovskites than in their inorganic counterparts. Compared with the caesium-based system, a 10 times slower carrier-phonon relaxation rate is observed in FAPbI3. The up-conversion of low-energy phonons is proposed to be responsible for the bottleneck effect. The presence of organic cations introduces overlapping phonon branches and facilitates the up-transition of low-energy modes. The blocking of phonon propagation associated with an ultralow thermal conductivity of the material also increases the overall up-conversion efficiency. This result also suggests a new and general method for achieving long-lived hot carriers in materials.

Four-Terminal Tandem Solar Cells Using CH3NH3PbBr3 by Spectrum Splitting.

In this work, the use of a high bandgap perovskite solar cell in a spectrum splitting system is demonstrated. A remarkable energy conversion efficiency of 23.4% is achieved when a CH3NH3PbBr3 solar cell is coupled with a 22.7% efficient silicon passivated emitter rear locally diffused solar cell. Relative enhancements of >10% are demonstrated by CH3NH3PbBr3/CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbBr3/multicrystalline-screen-printed-Si spectral splitting systems with tandem efficiencies of 13.4% and 18.8%, respectively. The former is the first demonstration of an all perovskite split spectrum system. The CH3NH3PbBr3 cell on a mesoporous structure was fabricated by the vapor-assisted method while the planar CH3NH3PbI3 cell was fabricated by the gas-assisted method. This work demonstrates the advantage of the higher voltage output from the high bandgap CH3NH3PbBr3 cell and its suitability in a tandem system.

Mobile Ion Induced Slow Carrier Dynamics in Organic–Inorganic Perovskite CH3NH3PbBr3

Here, we investigate photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) in CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite under continuous illumination, using optical and electro-optical techniques. Under continuous excitation at constant intensity, PL intensity and PL decay (carrier recombination) exhibit excitation intensity dependent reductions in the time scale of seconds to minutes. The enhanced nonradiative recombination is ascribed to light activated negative ions and their accumulation which exhibit a slow dynamics in a time scale of seconds to minutes. The observed result suggests that the organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite is a mixed electronic-ionic semiconductor. The key findings in this work suggest that ions are photoactivated or electro-activated and their accumulation at localized sites can result in a change of carrier dynamics. The findings are therefore useful for the understanding of instability of perovskite solar cells and shed light on the necessary strategies for performance improvement.

Optical modelling data for room temperature optical properties of organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites

The optical properties of perovskites at ambient temperatures are important both to the design of optimised solar cells as well as in other areas such as the refinement of electronic band structure calculations. Limited previous information on the optical modelling has been published. The experimental fitting parameters for optical constants of CH3NH3PbI3−xClx and CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite films are reported at 297 K as determined by detailed analysis of reflectance and transmittance data. The data in this study is related to the research article “Room temperature optical properties of organic–inorganic lead halide perovskites” in Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells [1].

Illumination dependent carrier dynamics of CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite

The excellent light harvesting properties and potentially low cost fabrication of organometal halide perovskites have attracted great attention in their application as solar cell device. Apart from the general advantages of organic-inorganic perovskite, CH3NH3PbBr3 has a larger bandgap (~2.3eV) suitable to be the top cell in a tandem solar device. Here we use steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) techniques to investigate the photophysical behaviour of CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite including its carrier dynamics under continuous illumination. Samples were studied under different illumination conditions and the following observations were made: (1) defect assisted recombination is dominant under low excitation under nano-second scale measurement, (2) bimolecular and Auger recombinations dominate under high excitation under the minute timescale measurement, (3) the magnitude PL decay traces decrease over time under continuous excitation. We propose that both the density of photo-generated free carriers and the density of mobile ions have an impact on the carrier dynamic of CH3NH3PbBr3. This finding provides insights into the photophysical properties of perovskite materials.

Unravelling the mechanism of photo-activated ion dynamics in organic-inorganic perovskites

Study of the emission behavior of organometal halide perovskites CH3NH3PbBr3 as function of excitation intensity by using photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) techniques reveals the photo-activated mobile ion can evidently impact carrier dynamics in the minutes time scale. We observe that PL intensity and PL decay exhibit excitation intensity dependent reductions in the minute time scale under continuous excitation at constant intensity. It has been confirmed that the carrier recombination intimately related to the density of photoexcited carriers. However, this long response time suggests photo-activated ion migration, rather than photo-generated electrons and holes, are responsible for the observed change in carrier dynamics. The observations provide insight into the nonradiative behavior of perovskite material under illumination. Because free carrier recombination process is linked to charge separation/ transportation efficiency, these key findings are useful for understanding of instability of perovskite solar cells.

Ultrafast charge generation and relaxation dynamics in methylammonium lead bromide perovskites

Methylammonium Lead Bromide (CH3NH3PbBr3) is a promising material for tandem solar cell due to its high band gap. Ultrafast optical techniques on a time scale of femto- and picosecond are used to investigate the carrier dynamics in CH3NH3PbBr3. An ultrafast cooling of hot carriers occurs in sub-picoseconds in CH3NH3PbBr3 by phonon scattering. Two ultrafast relaxation processes are attributed to optical phonon scattering and acoustic phonon scattering. The relaxation processes are evidently slower when CH3NH3PbBr3 is in contact with compact TiO2 (c-TiO2) layer, suggesting better quality CH3NH3PbBr3. when deposited on c-TiO2. The nanosecond decay in CH3NH3PbBr3 film is ascribed to electron-hole recombination. With the presence of c-TiO2 layer, this process is accelerated due to electron transport across the CH3NH3PbBr3/ c-TiO2 interface.