TY - JOUR
T1 - Crystalline Nature of Colloids in Methylammonium Lead Halide Perovskite Precursor Inks Revealed by Cryo-Electron Microscopy
AU - Dutta, Nikita S.
AU - Noel, Nakita K.
AU - Arnold, Craig B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the use of Princeton’s Imaging and Analysis Center, which is partially supported by the Princeton Center for Complex Materials, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-MRSEC program (DMR-1420541). We gratefully acknowledge Paul Shao, John Schreiber, and Nan Yao for support with the TEM, Mikko Haataja, Severin Habisreutinger, and Joseph J. Berry for helpful discussions, and Kevin Stone and Michael Toney for providing the crystallographic information from ref . This research was primarily supported by the NSF through Princeton University’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center DMR-1420541. N.K.N. acknowledges funding via a fellowship from the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/8/6
Y1 - 2020/8/6
N2 - Metal halide perovskites have generated interest across many fields for the impressive optoelectronic properties achievable in films produced using facile solution-processing techniques. Previous research has revealed the colloidal nature of perovskite precursor inks and established a relationship between the colloid distribution and the film optoelectronic quality. Yet, the identity of colloids remains unknown, hindering our understanding of their role in perovskite crystallization. Here, we investigate precursor inks of the prototypical methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and show, for the first time, that the colloids are neither amorphous nor undissolved lead iodide, as previously speculated, but are a crystalline, non-perovskite material. We identify this as a perovskite precursor phase and discuss this as a potential means to understanding the role of chloride in processing. This work establishes cryo-EM as a viable technique to elucidate the nature of colloids in perovskite inks, a vital step toward a fundamental understanding of thin-film crystallization.
AB - Metal halide perovskites have generated interest across many fields for the impressive optoelectronic properties achievable in films produced using facile solution-processing techniques. Previous research has revealed the colloidal nature of perovskite precursor inks and established a relationship between the colloid distribution and the film optoelectronic quality. Yet, the identity of colloids remains unknown, hindering our understanding of their role in perovskite crystallization. Here, we investigate precursor inks of the prototypical methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and show, for the first time, that the colloids are neither amorphous nor undissolved lead iodide, as previously speculated, but are a crystalline, non-perovskite material. We identify this as a perovskite precursor phase and discuss this as a potential means to understanding the role of chloride in processing. This work establishes cryo-EM as a viable technique to elucidate the nature of colloids in perovskite inks, a vital step toward a fundamental understanding of thin-film crystallization.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01975
DO - 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01975
M3 - Article
C2 - 32633521
AN - SCOPUS:85089613171
SN - 1948-7185
VL - 11
SP - 5980
EP - 5986
JO - Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
IS - 15
ER -