Extending the Compositional Space of Mixed Lead Halide Perovskites by Cs, Rb, K, and Na Doping

A trend in high performing lead halide perovskite solar cell devices has been increasing compositional complexity by successively introducing more elements, dopants, and additives into the structure; and some of the latest top efficiencies have been achieved with a quadruple cation mixed halide perovskite Cs(x)FA(y)MA(z)Rb(1-x-y-z)PbBr(q)I(3-9). This paper continues this trend by exploring doping of mixed lead halide perovskites, FA(0.83)MA(0.17)PbBr(0.51)I(2.49), with an extended set of alkali cations, i.e., Cs+, Rb+, K+, and Na+, as well as combinations of them. The doped perovskites were investigated with X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-vis, steady state fluorescence, and ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. Solar cell devices were made as well. Cs+ can replace the organic cations in the perovskite structure, but Rb+, K+, and Na+ do not appear to do that. Despite this, samples doped with K and Na have substantially longer fluorescence lifetimes, which potentially could be beneficial for device performance.