Enhancing Performance and Stability of Tin Halide Perovskite Light Emitting Diodes via Coordination Engineering of Lewis Acid-Base Adducts

For resolving toxicity issues of Pb-based perovskites, Sn-based perovskites have been widely studied as a promising alternative due to similar valence electron configuration between Sn2+ and Pb2+. However, desired Sn2+ in the precursor solution and film is easily oxidized to Sn4+, causing detrimental Sn vacancies and impurities in the films. Unfortunately, dimethyl sulfoxide, a ubiquitously used Lewis base for the fabrication of high-quality perovskite thin films via the adduct approach, further accelerates the oxidation of Sn2+ in the precursor solution. Herein, N,N '-dimethylpropyleneurea (DMPU) is proposed as an alternative Lewis base for the fabrication of high-quality Sn-based perovskite thin films. The strongly coordinating Lewis base DMPU is shown to suppress the oxidation of Sn2+ in the precursor solution while promoting growth of uniform and highly crystalline thin films. The PEA(2)SnI(4) perovskite light emitting diode (PeLED) based on DMPU demonstrates dramatically improves luminance (L): a more than sixfold enhanced external quantum efficiency (EQE) and better operational stability than those of the device fabricated without DMPU. The optimum PeLED based on DMPU achieves a maximum L and EQE of 68.84 cd m(-2) and 0.361%, respectively. This study provides an important methodological base for studying Sn perovskites for development of high-performance and eco-friendly PeLEDs.

Automated summary

In order to address toxicity issues of Pb-based perovskites, Sn-based perovskites have been studied as a promising alternative due to their similar valence electron configuration. However, the oxidation of Sn2+ to Sn4+ in the precursor solution and films has been a problem. This study proposes N,N'-dimethylpropyleneurea (DMPU) as a Lewis base to suppress the oxidation of Sn2+ and improve the performance and stability of Sn-based perovskite light emitting diodes (PeLEDs). The optimized PeLED based on DMPU achieved significantly enhanced luminance and external quantum efficiency compared to devices without DMPU, providing a promising method for developing high-performance and eco-friendly PeLEDs using Sn perovskites.