Suppressing non-radiative recombination in metal halide perovskite solar cells by synergistic effect of ferroelasticity

The low fraction of non-radiative recombination established the foundation of metal halide perovskite solar cells. However, the origin of low non-radiative recombination in metal halide perovskite materials is still not well-understood. Herein, we find that the non-radiative recombination in twinning-tetragonal phase methylammonium lead halide (MAPbI(x)Cl(3-x)) is apparently suppressed by applying an electric field, which leads to a remarkable increase of the open-circuit voltage from 1.12 V to 1.26 V. Possible effects of ionic migration and light soaking on the open-circuit voltage enhancement are excluded experimentally by control experiments. Microscopic and macroscopic characterizations reveal an excellent correlation between the ferroelastic lattice deformation and the suppression of non-radiative recombination. The calculation result suggests the existence of lattice polarization in self-stabilizable deformed domain walls, indicating the charge separation that facilitated by lattice polarization is accountable for the suppressed non-radiative recombination. This work provides an understanding of the excellent performance of metal halide perovskite solar cells.