TY - JOUR
T1 - The efficacy of Lewis affinity scale metrics to represent solvent interactions with reagent salts in all-inorganic metal halide perovskite solutions
AU - Romiluyi, Oluwaseun
AU - Eatmon, Yannick
AU - Ni, Ruihao
AU - Rand, Barry P.
AU - Clancy, Paulette
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021.
PY - 2021/6/14
Y1 - 2021/6/14
N2 - Solvents employed in the solution processing of metal halide perovskites are known to play a key role in defining the morphology and properties of the resulting thin film, and thus the performance of perovskite solar cell devices. Accurate metrics are needed that are capable of differentiating among candidates, finding solvents that adequately solubilize the various precursor species in solution and facilitate the nucleation and growth of these materials. Existing metrics such as the unsaturated Mayer bond order (UMBO) and the Gutmann donor number (DN) have been tested for lead iodide perovskite systems; but there has yet to be a comprehensive study on their transferability tolead-freeperovskite solutions. We useab initiomethods (density functional theory) and regression analysis tools to study the usefulness of DN and BF3affinity scales in this regard. We compared the relative effectiveness of these scales to describe interactions between solvents and BXnperovskite salts of lead (Pb2+), tin (Sn2+and Sn4+), germanium (Ge2+), bismuth (Bi3+), and antimony (Sb3+and Sb5+). The DN proved to be a better representation than the BF3of such interactions, reflecting the closer similarity of these species to the “parent” SbCl5Lewis acid than to BF3. In addition, we have uncovered the usefulness of the lithium cation affinity metric (LCA) to describe the strength of interactions between solvents and A-site cations (e.g.Na+, K+, Rb+and Cs+) in all-inorganic metal halide perovskite solutions. We find that the coordination strengths of solvents towards species in all-inorganic metal halide perovskite solutions are best described bytwodifferent metrics with distinct modes of action: DN differentiates among BXnsalt complexes, and LCA among A-site cation species. This revelation can help guide the choice of solvent to optimize processing conditions. It also emphasizes the importance of selecting solvents whose DN and LCA optimize coordination to key Lewis acid species in all-inorganic perovskite solutions.
AB - Solvents employed in the solution processing of metal halide perovskites are known to play a key role in defining the morphology and properties of the resulting thin film, and thus the performance of perovskite solar cell devices. Accurate metrics are needed that are capable of differentiating among candidates, finding solvents that adequately solubilize the various precursor species in solution and facilitate the nucleation and growth of these materials. Existing metrics such as the unsaturated Mayer bond order (UMBO) and the Gutmann donor number (DN) have been tested for lead iodide perovskite systems; but there has yet to be a comprehensive study on their transferability tolead-freeperovskite solutions. We useab initiomethods (density functional theory) and regression analysis tools to study the usefulness of DN and BF3affinity scales in this regard. We compared the relative effectiveness of these scales to describe interactions between solvents and BXnperovskite salts of lead (Pb2+), tin (Sn2+and Sn4+), germanium (Ge2+), bismuth (Bi3+), and antimony (Sb3+and Sb5+). The DN proved to be a better representation than the BF3of such interactions, reflecting the closer similarity of these species to the “parent” SbCl5Lewis acid than to BF3. In addition, we have uncovered the usefulness of the lithium cation affinity metric (LCA) to describe the strength of interactions between solvents and A-site cations (e.g.Na+, K+, Rb+and Cs+) in all-inorganic metal halide perovskite solutions. We find that the coordination strengths of solvents towards species in all-inorganic metal halide perovskite solutions are best described bytwodifferent metrics with distinct modes of action: DN differentiates among BXnsalt complexes, and LCA among A-site cation species. This revelation can help guide the choice of solvent to optimize processing conditions. It also emphasizes the importance of selecting solvents whose DN and LCA optimize coordination to key Lewis acid species in all-inorganic perovskite solutions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107734948&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85107734948&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/d1ta03063a
DO - 10.1039/d1ta03063a
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107734948
SN - 2050-7488
VL - 9
SP - 13087
EP - 13099
JO - Journal of Materials Chemistry A
JF - Journal of Materials Chemistry A
IS - 22
ER -