Metal halide perovskites

Whether you like exploring the mysteries of light–matter interactions, playing with a versatile chemical platform, or developing the most efficient devices, metal halide perovskites could be the materials for you.

The ionic conductivity of a halide perovskite can be boosted by light. This may be detrimental for perovskite solar cells, but also holds promise for solid-state photoelectrochemical devices.

Solar cells based on metal halide perovskites continue to approach their theoretical performance limits thanks to worldwide research efforts. Mastering the materials properties and addressing stability may allow this technology to bring profound transformations to the electric power generation industry.

Claudine Katan, Aditya D. Mohite and Jacky Even discuss the possible impact of various entropy contributions (stochastic structural fluctuations, anharmonicity and lattice softness) on the optoelectronic properties of halide perovskite materials and devices.

Kiyoshi Miyata and X.-Y. Zhu analyse the ferroelectric-like dielectric response of lead halide perovskites in the terahertz region and discuss the potential role of polar nanodomains in accounting for the defect tolerance and low recombination rates of these materials.

Heavy atoms and crystal or inversion symmetry breaking may promote Rashba effects in halide perovskites. Sam Stranks and Paulina Plochocka propose experiments to assess the existence of these effects and their implications on the photophysics of perovskites.

Charge carriers in metal halide perovskites seem to be only marginally affected by defect-related trap states. Filippo De Angelis and Annamaria Petrozza suggest that the key to this behaviour lies in the redox chemistry of halide defects.

Lead-halide perovskites have entered the family of colloidal nanocrystals, showing excellent optical properties and easy synthesizability. This Review provides an insight into their chemical versatility, stability challenges and use in optoelectronics.

The ionic conductivity of methylammonium lead iodide is enhanced up to two orders of magnitude when the material is exposed to light. This effect may also have implications for the photostability of perovskites.