IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v6y2015i1d10.1038_ncomms8124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The dynamics of methylammonium ions in hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells

Author

Listed:
  • Aurelien M. A. Leguy

    (Imperial College London)

  • Jarvist Moore Frost

    (University of Bath, Claverton Down)

  • Andrew P. McMahon

    (Imperial College London)

  • Victoria Garcia Sakai

    (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK)

  • W. Kockelmann

    (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK)

  • ChunHung Law

    (Imperial College London)

  • Xiaoe Li

    (Imperial College London)

  • Fabrizia Foglia

    (Imperial College London)

  • Aron Walsh

    (University of Bath, Claverton Down)

  • Brian C. O’Regan

    (Imperial College London)

  • Jenny Nelson

    (Imperial College London)

  • João T. Cabral

    (Imperial College London)

  • Piers R. F. Barnes

    (Imperial College London)

Abstract

Methylammonium lead iodide perovskite can make high-efficiency solar cells, which also show an unexplained photocurrent hysteresis dependent on the device-poling history. Here we report quasielastic neutron scattering measurements showing that dipolar CH3NH3+ ions reorientate between the faces, corners or edges of the pseudo-cubic lattice cages in CH3NH3PbI3 crystals with a room temperature residence time of ∼14 ps. Free rotation, π-flips and ionic diffusion are ruled out within a 1–200-ps time window. Monte Carlo simulations of interacting CH3NH3+ dipoles realigning within a 3D lattice suggest that the scattering measurements may be explained by the stabilization of CH3NH3+ in either antiferroelectric or ferroelectric domains. Collective realignment of CH3NH3+ to screen a device’s built-in potential could reduce photovoltaic performance. However, we estimate the timescale for a domain wall to traverse a typical device to be ∼0.1–1 ms, faster than most observed hysteresis.

Suggested Citation

  • Aurelien M. A. Leguy & Jarvist Moore Frost & Andrew P. McMahon & Victoria Garcia Sakai & W. Kockelmann & ChunHung Law & Xiaoe Li & Fabrizia Foglia & Aron Walsh & Brian C. O’Regan & Jenny Nelson & João, 2015. "The dynamics of methylammonium ions in hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8124
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8124
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8124
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms8124?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.