Liquid-Phase Transfer of Organic–Inorganic Halide Perovskite Films for TEM Investigation and Planar Heterojunction Fabrication

Shuai Guo, Xiangzhao Zhang, Mingwei Hao, Tianwei Duan, Weizhen Wang, Zhimin Li, Guiwu Liu, Songhua Cai*, Yuanyuan Zhou*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Abstract

Organic–inorganic halide perovskites (OIHPs) show high promise in optical and electronic applications such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes, and nonlinear optics. However, the fundamental knowledge of the atomic-scale microstructures in OIHP thin films is limited due to the challenge in characterizing them using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Here a solution-phase “release-and-transfer” method is demonstrated, which entails the lifting of OIHP films from their original substrates while maintaining the film integrity, followed by a sequential transfer onto a TEM grid. The freestanding nature of the OIHP films with a nanoscale thickness, prepared as such, allows a direct TEM observation in the plan view, complementing those typical cross-sectional views enabled by focus-ion-beam specimen fabrication. Using low-dose scanning TEM, the atomic-scale microstructure of transferred OIHP films is confirmed to be generally maintained, while the microstrain existing in original films is largely relaxed. This “release-and-transfer” method is generic to both standard 3D and low-dimensional OIHPs. Based on a simple layer-by-layer transfer, the fabrication of a 2D–3D planar heterojunction with a good interfacial contact and optoelectronic properties is achieved. This unique methodology offers new opportunities to accelerate the fundamental and practical developments of OIHP materials and devices.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-9
Number of pages9
JournalAdvanced Optical Materials
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 10 Oct 2023

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

User-Defined Keywords

  • halide perovskites
  • microstructure
  • scanning transmission electron microscopy
  • solar cells
  • transfer

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