Negative Pressure Engineering with Large Cage Cations in 2D Halide Perovskites Causes Lattice Softening

Xiaotong Li (1) , Yongping Fu (1) , Laurent Pedesseau (2) , Peijun Guo (3) , Shelby Cuthriell (1) , Ido Hadar (1) , Jacky Even (2) , Claudine Katan (4) , Constantinos C Stoumpos (1) , Richard Schaller (3) , Elad Harel (5) , Mercouri G Kanatzidis (1)

1 Northwestern University [Evanston]
2 FOTON - Institut des Fonctions Optiques pour les Technologies de l'informatiON
3 ANL - Argonne National Laboratory [Lemont]
4 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes
5 Michigan State University System

Organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskites are promising semiconductors with tailorable optical and electronic properties. The choice of A-site cation to support a three-dimensional (3D) perovskite structure AMX3 (where M is a metal, and X is a halide) is limited by the geometric Goldschmidt tolerance factor. However, this geometric constraint can be relaxed in two-dimensional (2D) perovskites, providing us an opportunity to understand how various the A-site cations modulate the structural properties and thereby the optoelectronic properties. Here, we report the synthesis and structures of single-crystals (BA)2(A)Pb2I7 where BA = butylammonium, and A = methylammonium (MA), formamidinium (FA), dimethylammonium (DMA) or guanidinium (GA), a series of A-site cation varied in size. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals that the MA, FA, and GA structures crystallize in the same Cmcm space group, while the DMA imposes the Ccmb space group. We observe that as the A-site cation becomes larger, the Pb−I bond continuously elongates, expanding the volume of the perovskite cage, equivalent to exerting “negative pressure” on the perovskite structures. Optical studies and DFT calculations show the Pb−I bond length elongation reduces overlap of the Pb s- and I p-orbitals and increases the optical bandgap, while Pb−I−Pb angles play a secondary role. Raman spectra show lattice softening with increasing size of the A-site cation. These structural changes with enlarged A cations result in significant decreases in photoluminescence intensity and lifetime, consistent with a more pronounced nonradiative decay. Transient absorption microscopy (TAM) results suggest that the PL drop may derive from a higher concentration of traps or phonon-assisted nonradiative recombination. The results highlight that extending the range of Goldschmidt tolerance factors for 2D perovskites is achievable, enabling further tuning of the structure-property relationships in 2D perovskites.

Domaines: Chimie; Physique [physics]

Xiaotong Li, Yongping Fu, Laurent Pedesseau, Peijun Guo, Shelby Cuthriell, et al.. Negative Pressure Engineering with Large Cage Cations in 2D Halide Perovskites Causes Lattice Softening. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2020, 142 (26), pp.11486-11496. ⟨10.1021/jacs.0c03860⟩. ⟨hal-02764729⟩