Ultra-long charge carrier recombination time in methylammonium lead halide perovskites

TL;DR

This study investigates the exceptionally long charge carrier recombination times in methylammonium lead halide perovskites across a wide temperature range using contactless photoconductivity measurements, highlighting their potential for high-efficiency solar cells.

Contribution

The paper introduces a contactless measurement technique with a high-Q microwave resonator to study charge dynamics in MAPbX3 perovskites over 4-290 K, revealing long recombination times.

Findings

Long charge carrier recombination times observed in MAPbX3 perovskites.

Recombination times vary with temperature and halide composition.

Potential implications for high-efficiency photovoltaic applications.

Abstract

Due to their exceptional photovoltaic properties, metal halide perovskites (MHPs) are extensively studied for their potential applications in solar cells. In recent years, the power conversion efficiencies of MHPs-based solar cells rapidly increased from the initial few \% towards more than 25\,\% for single-junction devices. Therefore, also taking into account their low costs and ease of manufacturing, MHPs-based solar cells have become the fastest-advancing photovoltaic technology. In this regard, much of the recent work has been dominated by absorber materials based on methylammonium MHPs, such as MAPbX$_3$, where MA=CH$_3$NH$_3$ and X=Cl, Br and I. Here, we present the results of contactless time-resolved photoconductivity measurements in an exceptionally wide range of temperatures of $4$ to $290\ \text{K}$ that were performed for the various crystalline forms of the three parent MAPbX$_3$, i.e., MAPbCl$_3$, MAPbBr$_3$ and MAPbI$_3$. This approach was made possible by the use of a high quality-factor (Q) microwave resonator, which cooperated with a commercially available microwave bridge equipped with an automatic frequency control (AFC) and a helium gas-flow cryostat.