The phase and structural behaviours of the hybrid perovskites FAxMA1−xPbI3as a function of composition and temperature have been determined.

A six-membered cyclic carbonate derived from natural sugar ᴅ-mannose was prepared using CO 2 as a C1 building block at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The monomer was synthesized in two steps from a commercially available mannopyranose derivative. Polycarbonates were rapidly prepared at ambient temperature by controlled ringopening polymerization (ROP) of the monomer, initiated by 4-methylbenzyl alcohol in the presence of 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[5.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD) as the organocatalyst. Head-to-tail regiochemistry was indicated by NMR spectroscopy and is supported by DFT calculations. These aliphatic polycarbonates exhibit high-temperature resistance and demonstrate potential for post-polymerization functionalization, suggesting future application as high-performance commodity and biomedical materials.

The routes and kinetics of the degradation of thin films of methylammonium (MA)/formamidinium (FA) lead iodide perovskites (MA 1Àx FA x PbI 3 , 0 # x # 1) under dry atmospheric conditions have been investigated. MA-rich phases decompose to the precursor iodide salts and PbI 2 , while FA-rich phases convert mainly to the yellow hexagonal phase. The reactivity is strongly inhibited for mixed cation phases of MA 1Àx FA x PbI 3 , for x ¼ 0.4 to 0.6, where the decomposition routes available to end member phases become less favourable. It is shown that for pristine films with x ¼ 0.6, PbI 2 formation can be completely suppressed for up to 10 days. Kinetic analysis reveals that the rate of PbI 2 formation decays exponentially with increasing FA content until x ¼ 0.7, beyond which the FA containing perovskite transforms rapidly to the hexagonal phase. Ab initio simulations of the decomposition reaction energies fully support the increased kinetic stability found experimentally for the mixed A-cation perovskites.Hybrid lead halide perovskites have recently risen to prominence as highly versatile materials for optoelectronic technologies, particularly high efficiency, solution processed solar cells.1-4 They display near optimal band gap for solar light absorption, high absorption coefficients, steep absorption onsets and signicant charge carrier lifetimes (and thus diffusion lengths).2,5 These properties, combined with the processability of these materials, 6,7 have resulted in solar cell device efficiencies rising rapidly to over 22%.8 However, the commercial applicability of these materials is hampered by their relative lack of stability compared to established inorganic and organic semiconductors.9-11 By chemical site-substitution at any of the A, B or X sites of the ABX 3 perovskite structure, it has been found that it is possible to tune the properties and, most pertinently, the stability of the resultant material. 12-14The archetypal hybrid perovskite methylammonium (MA) lead iodide (CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 ), MAPI, crystallises in the tetragonal space group I4/mcm at room temperature.15 Formamidinium (FA) lead iodide (CH(NH 2 ) 2 PbI 3 ), FAPI, by contrast preferentially crystallises in the yellow, 2H hexagonal perovskite type polymorph at room temperature, which can be driven to transform to the black cubic perovskite polymorph (required for photovoltaic applications) by heating above room temperature. 16-19Such varying phase behaviour can be accounted for by the different sizes and hydrogen bonding mechanisms of these dissimilar organic cations, MA and FA.Both MA and FA cations display directional hydrogen bonding, a factor of increasing importance in controlling phase behaviour as the system temperature is reduced and also for dening the relative stability of the two polymorphs of FAPI. 20Stabilisation of mixed A site compounds relative to the end members of the series can be rationalised using geometrical arguments in which the perovskite tolerance factor is tuned using differently sized cations, as well as an entrop...

The complete phase diagram of organic-cation solid solutions of lead iodide perovskites [FA x MA 1−x PbI 3 , where MA stands for methylammonium, CH 3 NH 3 , and FA for formamidinium, CH(NH 2 ) 2 ] with compositions x ranging from 0 to 1 in steps of 0.1 was constructed in the temperature range from 10 to 365 K by combining Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The occurrence of phase transitions was inferred from both the temperature-induced changes in the optical emission energies and/or the phonon frequencies and line widths, complementing X-ray and neutron scattering literature data. For MA-rich perovskites (x ≤ 0.2), the same structural behavior as for MAPbI 3 was observed with decreasing temperature: cubic Pm3̅ m → tetragonal-I I4/mcm → orthorhombic Pnma. As the FA molecule is larger and more symmetric but less polar than MA, a tetragonal crystal structure is favored at low temperatures and FA compositions x > 0.4, to the detriment of the orthorhombic phase. As a consequence, with decreasing temperature, the phase transition sequence for FArich compounds is cubic Pm3̅ m → tetragonal-II P4/mbm → tetragonal-III. The latter presumably belongs to the P4bm symmetry group, according to neutron scattering data. Strikingly, the isostructural (tetragonal-totetragonal) transformation, which occurs between 200 and 150 K, exhibits a kind of critical point for x = 0.7. For intermediate FA contents, the perovskite solid solution transforms close to 250 K directly from the cubic phase to the tetragonal-III phase. The latter is characterized by a nonmonotonic dependence of the band-gap energy on temperature. We ascribe such behavior to a substantial tilting of the PbI 6 octahedra in the tetragonal-III phase. In this way, we established important links between crystal-phase stability and the electronic as well as vibrational properties of mixed organic-cation halide perovskites, which might impact the current search for more stable best-performing optoelectronic materials.

Lead halide perovskites, which are causing a paradigm shift in photovoltaics, exhibit an atypical temperature dependence of the fundamental gap: it decreases in energy with decreasing temperature. Reports ascribe such a behavior to a strong electron-phonon renormalization