Metal halide perovskites are of great interest for various high-performance optoelectronic applications. The ability to tune the perovskite bandgap continuously by modifying the chemical composition opens up applications for perovskites as coloured emitters, in building-integrated photovoltaics, and as components of tandem photovoltaics to increase the power conversion efficiency. Nevertheless, performance is limited by non-radiative losses, with luminescence yields in state-of-the-art perovskite solar cells still far from 100 per cent under standard solar illumination conditions. Furthermore, in mixed halide perovskite systems designed for continuous bandgap tunability (bandgaps of approximately 1.7 to 1.9 electronvolts), photoinduced ion segregation leads to bandgap instabilities. Here we demonstrate substantial mitigation of both non-radiative losses and photoinduced ion migration in perovskite films and interfaces by decorating the surfaces and grain boundaries with passivating potassium halide layers. We demonstrate external photoluminescence quantum yields of 66 per cent, which translate to internal yields that exceed 95 per cent. The high luminescence yields are achieved while maintaining high mobilities of more than 40 square centimetres per volt per second, providing the elusive combination of both high luminescence and excellent charge transport. When interfaced with electrodes in a solar cell device stack, the external luminescence yield-a quantity that must be maximized to obtain high efficiency-remains as high as 15 per cent, indicating very clean interfaces. We also demonstrate the inhibition of transient photoinduced ion-migration processes across a wide range of mixed halide perovskite bandgaps in materials that exhibit bandgap instabilities when unpassivated. We validate these results in fully operating solar cells. Our work represents an important advance in the construction of tunable metal halide perovskite films and interfaces that can approach the efficiency limits in tandem solar cells, coloured-light-emitting diodes and other optoelectronic applications.

Thin-film photovoltaics is a promising technology for low-cost and sustainable renewable energy sources. Organic-inorganic (hybrid) lead halide perovskite solar cells have recently aroused wide interest in photovoltaic applications because of their impressive power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), now exceeding 21%. [1][2][3] Importantly, the perovskite thin-film absorber can be deposited using low-cost and abundant starting materials, hence with a large potential for the preparation of inexpensive photovoltaic devices. 4 The high PCEs are the result of the very high absorption coefficient and mobilities of the photogenerated electrons and holes

Metal halide perovskites such as methylammonium lead iodide (CHNHPbI) are generating great excitement due to their outstanding optoelectronic properties, which lend them to application in high-efficiency solar cells and light-emission devices. However, there is currently debate over what drives the second-order electron-hole recombination in these materials. Here, we propose that the bandgap in CHNHPbI has a direct-indirect character. Time-resolved photo-conductance measurements show that generation of free mobile charges is maximized for excitation energies just above the indirect bandgap. Furthermore, we find that second-order electron-hole recombination of photo-excited charges is retarded at lower temperature. These observations are consistent with a slow phonon-assisted recombination pathway via the indirect bandgap. Interestingly, in the low-temperature orthorhombic phase, fast quenching of mobile charges occurs independent of the temperature and photon excitation energy. Our work provides a new framework to understand the optoelectronic properties of metal halide perovskites and analyse spectroscopic data.

The authors demonstrate the use of light and atmospheric treatments on polycrystalline perovskite thin films, resulting in properties approaching those of the best crystalline semiconductors reported to date. The results translate to exceptional photovoltaic device performances with rapid rises to stabilized power output consistent with an inhibition of ionic migration.

Efficient solar cells have been obtained using thin films of solution-processed organic-inorganic perovskites. However, there remains limited knowledge about the relationship between preparation route and optoelectronic properties. We use complementary time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements to investigate the charge carrier dynamics in thin planar films of CH3NH3PbI(3-x)Cl(x), CH3NH3PbI3, and their meso-structured analogues. High mobilities close to 30 cm(2)/(V s) and microsecond-long lifetimes are found in thin films of CH3NH3PbI(3-x)Cl(x), compared to lifetimes of only a few hundred nanoseconds in CH3NH3PbI3 and meso-structured perovskites. We describe our TRMC and PL experiments with a global kinetic model, using one set of kinetic parameters characteristic for each sample. We find that the trap density is less than 5 × 10(14) cm(-3) in CH3NH3PbI(3-x)Cl(x), 6 × 10(16) cm(-3) in the CH3NH3PbI3 thin film and ca. 10(15) cm(-3) in both meso-structured perovskites. Furthermore, our results imply that band-to-band recombination is enhanced by the presence of dark carriers resulting from unintentional doping of the perovskites. Finally, our general approach to determine concentrations of trap states and dark carriers is also highly relevant to other semiconductor materials.