1
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Liu C, Lin C, Xia Y, Wang F, Liu G, Zhou L, Yang Z. The effective prolongation of the excited-state carrier lifetime of CsPbI 2Br with applying strain. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:18006-18015. [PMID: 38894605 DOI: 10.1039/d4cp01448k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
In recent years, all-inorganic perovskites CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) have emerged as excellent candidates for solar cells due to their remarkable thermal stability and suitable bandgaps. Among them, CsPbI2Br is a hotspot in perovskite material research currently. Non-radiative electron-hole recombination often leads to significant energy losses, impacting the efficiency of solar cells, so a thorough understanding of carrier recombination mechanisms is crucial. Our work investigated the carrier recombination dynamics in detail and proved that strains can effectively reduce nonradiative recombination. In this study, using first-principles calculations combined with nonadiabatic (NA) molecular dynamics (MD), we demonstrate that applying 2% tensile and 2% compressive strains to CsPbI2Br can modify the bandgap, induce moderate disorder, reduce the overlap of electron-hole wavefunctions, decrease NA coupling, and shorten decoherence time, thereby minimizing non-radiative recombination and extending the carrier lifetime. Especially the 2% tensile strain exhibits more effective control performance, significantly reducing non-radiative electron-hole recombination and extending the charge carrier lifetime to 14.59 ns, nearly five times that of the pristine CsPbI2Br system (3.12 ns). This study reveals the impact mechanism of strain on carrier behavior in perovskite solar cells, providing a new non-chemical strategy for modulating the lifetime of photo-generated carriers and enhancing the efficiency of all-inorganic perovskite solar cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chang Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Optical Detection Technology, Center for Basic Research in Energy Interdisciplinary Studies, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China.
| | - Chundan Lin
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Optical Detection Technology, Center for Basic Research in Energy Interdisciplinary Studies, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China.
| | - Yuhong Xia
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Optical Detection Technology, Center for Basic Research in Energy Interdisciplinary Studies, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China.
| | - Fei Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Optical Detection Technology, Center for Basic Research in Energy Interdisciplinary Studies, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China.
| | - Guodong Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Optical Detection Technology, Center for Basic Research in Energy Interdisciplinary Studies, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China.
| | - Lulu Zhou
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Optical Detection Technology, Center for Basic Research in Energy Interdisciplinary Studies, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China.
| | - Zhenqing Yang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Optical Detection Technology, Center for Basic Research in Energy Interdisciplinary Studies, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China.
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2
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Liu D, Wu Y, Samatov MR, Vasenko AS, Chulkov EV, Prezhdo OV. Compression Eliminates Charge Traps by Stabilizing Perovskite Grain Boundary Structures: An Ab Initio Analysis with Machine Learning Force Field. CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS : A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 2024; 36:2898-2906. [PMID: 38558914 PMCID: PMC10976646 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c03261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 02/23/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Grain boundaries (GBs) play an important role in determining the optoelectronic properties of perovskites, requiring an atomistic understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Strain engineering has recently been employed in perovskite solar cells, providing a novel perspective on the role of perovskite GBs. Here, we theoretically investigate the impact of axial strain on the geometric and electronic properties of a common CsPbBr3 GB. We develop a machine learning force field and perform ab initio calculations to analyze the behavior of GB models with different axial strains on a nanosecond time scale. Our results demonstrate that compressing the GB efficiently suppresses structural fluctuations and eliminates trap states originating from large-scale distortions. The GB becomes more amorphous under compressive strain, which makes the relationship between the electronic structure and axial strain nonmonotonic. These results can help clarify the conflicts in perovskite GB experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yifan Wu
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles California 90089, United States
| | | | - Andrey S. Vasenko
- HSE
University, 101000 Moscow, Russia
- Donostia
International Physics Center (DIPC), 20018 San Sebastián - Donostia, Euskadi, Spain
| | - Evgueni V. Chulkov
- Donostia
International Physics Center (DIPC), 20018 San Sebastián - Donostia, Euskadi, Spain
- Centro
de Física de Materiales (CFM-MPC), Centro Mixto CSIC-UPV/EHU, 20018 San Sebastián - Donostia, Euskadi, Spain
- Departamento
de Polímeros y Materiales Avanzados: Física, Química
y Tecnología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, 20080 San Sebastián
- Donostia, Euskadi, Spain
| | - Oleg V. Prezhdo
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles California 90089, United States
- Department
of Physics & Astronomy, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles California 90089, United States
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3
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Mondal S, Chowdhury U, Dey S, Habib M, Mora Perez C, Frauenheim T, Sarkar R, Pal S, Prezhdo OV. Controlling Charge Carrier Dynamics in Porphyrin Nanorings by Optically Active Templates. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:11384-11392. [PMID: 38078872 PMCID: PMC10749466 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c03304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/22/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the dynamics of photogenerated charge carriers is essential for enhancing the performance of solar and optoelectronic devices. Using atomistic quantum dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that a short π-conjugated optically active template can be used to control hot carrier relaxation, charge carrier separation, and carrier recombination in light-harvesting porphyrin nanorings. Relaxation of hot holes is slowed by 60% with an optically active template compared to that with an analogous optically inactive template. Both systems exhibit subpicosecond electron transfer from the photoactive core to the templates. Notably, charge recombination is suppressed 6-fold by the optically active template. The atomistic time-domain simulations rationalize these effects by the extent of electron and hole localization, modification of the density of states, participation of distinct vibrational motions, and changes in quantum coherence. Extension of the hot carrier lifetime and reduction of charge carrier recombination, without hampering charge separation, demonstrate a strategy for enhancing efficiencies of energy materials with optically active templates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shrabanti Mondal
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Gour Banga, Malda 732103, India
| | - Uttam Chowdhury
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Gour Banga, Malda 732103, India
| | - Subhajit Dey
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Gour Banga, Malda 732103, India
| | - Md Habib
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Gour Banga, Malda 732103, India
- Department
of Chemistry, Sripat Singh College, Jiaganj 742122, India
| | - Carlos Mora Perez
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - Thomas Frauenheim
- Bremen
Center
for Computational Materials Science, Universität
Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
- Beijing
Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100193, China
- Shenzhen
JL Computational Science and Applied Research Institute, Shenzhen 518109, China
| | - Ritabrata Sarkar
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Gour Banga, Malda 732103, India
- Bremen
Center
for Computational Materials Science, Universität
Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
| | - Sougata Pal
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Gour Banga, Malda 732103, India
| | - Oleg V. Prezhdo
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
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4
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Lu TF, Chu W, Agrawal S, Zhang Z, Prezhdo OV. Lattice Distortion and Low-Frequency Anharmonic Phonons Suppress Charge Recombination in Lead Halide Perovskites upon Pseudohalide Doping: Time-Domain Ab Initio Analysis. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:10685-10692. [PMID: 37988630 PMCID: PMC10694819 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teng-Fei Lu
- School
of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian
Jiaotong University, Dalian 116028, Liaoning, China
| | - Weibin Chu
- Key
Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences (Ministry of Education),
Institute of Computational Physical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Sraddha Agrawal
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - Zhihua Zhang
- School
of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian
Jiaotong University, Dalian 116028, Liaoning, China
| | - Oleg V. Prezhdo
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
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Repa GM, Fredin LA. Lessons Learned from Catalysis to Qubits: General Strategies to Build Accessible and Accurate First-Principles Models of Point Defects. THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. C, NANOMATERIALS AND INTERFACES 2023; 127:21930-21939. [PMID: 38024198 PMCID: PMC10658620 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c06267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
Defects and dopants play critical roles in defining the properties of a material. Achieving a mechanistic understanding of how such properties arise is challenging with current experimental methods, and computational approaches suffer from significant modeling limitations that frequently require a posteriori fitting. Consequently, the pace of dopant discovery as a means of tuning material properties for a particular application has been slow. However, recent advances in computation have enabled researchers to move away from semiempirical schemes to reposition density functional theory as a predictive tool and improve the accessibility of highly accurate first-principles methods to all researchers. This Perspective discusses some of these recent achievements that provide more accurate first-principles geometric, thermodynamic, optical, and electronic properties simultaneously. Advancements related to supercells, basis sets, functionals, and optimization protocols, as well as suggestions for evaluating the quality of a computational model through comparison to experimental data, are discussed. Moreover, recent computational results in the fields of energy materials, heterogeneous catalysis, and quantum informatics are reviewed along with an evaluation of current frontiers and opportunities in the field of computational materials chemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gil M. Repa
- Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
| | - Lisa A. Fredin
- Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
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6
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Lu H, Long R. Spin-Orbit Coupling Notably Retards Non-radiative Electron-Hole Recombination in Methylammonium Lead Triiodide Perovskites. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:2715-2721. [PMID: 36892969 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The giant spin-orbit coupling (SOC) of a heavy lead element significantly extends charge carrier lifetimes of lead halide perovskites (LHPs). The physical mechanism remains unclear and requires a quantum dynamics perspective. Taking methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) as a prototypical system and using non-adiabatic molecular dynamics combined with 1/2 electron correction, we show that SOC notably reduces the non-radiative electron-hole (e-h) recombination by decreasing the non-adiabatic coupling (NAC) primarily as a result of SOC decreasing the e-h wave function overlap by reshaping the electron and hole wave functions. Second, SOC causes spin mismatch subject to spin-mixed states, which further decreases NAC. The charge carrier lifetime is about 3-fold longer in the present of SOC relative to the absence of SOC. Our study generates the fundamental understanding of SOC minimizing non-radiative charge and energy losses in LHPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoran Lu
- Key Laboratory of Theoretical & Computational Photochemistry of Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People's Republic of China
| | - Run Long
- Key Laboratory of Theoretical & Computational Photochemistry of Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People's Republic of China
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