Iodide-ion transport in methylammonium lead iodide perovskite: Some surprising aspects

Methylammonium lead iodide, CH3NH3PbI3 (= MAPbI3), is a hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite that exhibits excellent photovoltaic properties. In comparison with traditional photovoltaic materials, such as Si or CIGS, MAPbI3 is evidently characterised by one or more highly mobile constituent ions. In photovoltaic devices based on MAPbI3, ion mobility is deemed to be responsible for current–voltage hysteresis, a huge low-frequency dielectric response, and long-term instability. Despite enormous interest in ion transport, debate surrounds almost every aspect. This is evident in the excessive scatter in activation enthalpies reported in the literature for ion conduction in MAPbI3 (see Fig. 1). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract