Surface reconstruction of tetragonal methylammonium lead triiodide

We present a detailed first-principles analysis of the (001) surface of methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI(3)). With density functional theory, we investigate the atomic and electronic structure of the tetragonal (I4cm) phase of MAPbI(3). We analyzed surface models with MAI-termination (MAI-T) and PbI2-termination (PbI2-T). For both terminations, we studied the clean surface and a series of surface reconstructions. We find that the clean MAI-T model is more stable than its counterpart, PbI2-T. For the MAI-T, reconstructions with added or removed units of nonpolar MAI and PbI2 are most stable. The corresponding band structures reveal surface states originating from the conduction band. Despite the presence of such additional surface states, our stable reconstructed surface models do not introduce new states within the bandgap.(c) 2021 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study presents a detailed first-principles analysis of the (001) surface of methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI(3)), revealing that the clean MAI-T model is more stable and conducive to surface reconstructions. The corresponding band structures show surface states originating from the conduction band, but the stable reconstructed surface models do not introduce new states within the bandgap.