Enhanced Crystallinity in Organic-Inorganic Lead Halide Perovskites on Mesoporous TiO2 via Disorder-Order Phase Transition

Organic-inorganic halide perovskite (OIHP) compounds are very interesting materials for device application in, for example, solar cells, electro-optics, and electronic circuits. In this report, we investigated OIHPs reported as CH3NH3PbI3-xClx (MAPbI(3-x)Cl(x)) and CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI(3)) prepared from solution on mesoporous TiO2/glass substrates. A long-term conversion from disordered to more crystalline OIHPs was observed for both types of samples from XRD patterns over 5 weeks. The conversion rate to more crystalline OIHPs could be increased by increasing the temperature of the sample. SEM analyses of the two types of OIHPs show remarkably different surface microstructures. The X-ray diffractograms suggest that both samples are dominated by the similar crystal structure, although the preferential orientation for the crystal structure is different. Moreover, the results suggest that the material reported as MAPbI(3-x)Cl(x) is a combination of MAPbI(3) and MAPbCl(3). The crystal structure and exact nature of the material is important for the understanding and optimization of devices, and the possibility for enhanced crystallinity of the OIHPs shown in this report will therefore be important for further improvement and understanding of the devices.