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Title: Lattice Distortion and Low-Frequency Anharmonic Phonons Suppress Charge Recombination in Lead Halide Perovskites upon Pseudohalide Doping: Time-Domain Ab Initio Analysis

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Perovskite solar cells have witnessed a surge in interest as a promising technology for low-cost, high-efficiency photovoltaics with certified power conversion efficiencies beyond 25%. However, their commercial development is hindered by poor stability and nonradiative losses that restrict their approach to the theoretical efficiency limit. Using ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics, we demonstrate that nonradiative charge recombination is suppressed when the iodide in formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) is partially replaced with pseudohalide anions (SCN, BF4, and PF6). The replacement breaks the symmetry of the system and creates local structural distortion and dynamic disorder, decreasing electron–hole overlap and nonadiabatic electron– vibrational coupling. The charge carrier lifetime is found to increase with increased structural distortion and is the longest for PF6. This work is fundamentally relevant to the design of high-performance perovskite materials for optoelectronic applications.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; Dalian Science and Technology Innovation Fund
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0014429; 2023RQ039
OSTI ID:
2217405
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2228258
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 47; ISSN 1948-7185
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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