Understanding the stability of mixed A-cation lead iodide perovskites

The routes and kinetics of the degradation of thin films of methyl ammonium (MA)/formamidinium (FA) lead iodide perovskites (MA(1-x)FA(x)Pbl(3), 0 <= x <= 1) under dry atmospheric conditions have been investigated. MA-rich phases decompose to the precursor iodide salts and Pbl(2), while FA-rich phases convert mainly to the yellow hexagonal phase. The reactivity is strongly inhibited for mixed cation phases of MA(1-x)FA(x)Pbl(3), for x = 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 = 0.6, Pbl(2) formation can be completely suppressed for up to 10 days. Kinetic analysis reveals that the rate of Pbl(2) formation decays exponentially with increasing FA content until x = 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.