The effective prolongation of the excited-state carrier lifetime of CsPbI2Br with applying strain

Abstract

In recent years, all-inorganic perovskites CsPbX₃ (X = Cl, Br, I) have emerged as excellent candidates for solar cells due to their remarkable thermal stability and suitable bandgaps. Among them, CsPbI₂Br is a hotspot in perovskite material research currently. Non-radiative electron–hole recombination often leads to significant energy losses, impacting the efficiency of solar cells, so a thorough understanding of carrier recombination mechanisms is crucial. Our work investigated the carrier recombination dynamics in detail and proved that strains can effectively reduce nonradiative recombination. In this study, using first-principles calculations combined with nonadiabatic (NA) molecular dynamics (MD), we demonstrate that applying 2% tensile and 2% compressive strains to CsPbI₂Br can modify the bandgap, induce moderate disorder, reduce the overlap of electron–hole wavefunctions, decrease NA coupling, and shorten decoherence time, thereby minimizing non-radiative recombination and extending the carrier lifetime. Especially the 2% tensile strain exhibits more effective control performance, significantly reducing non-radiative electron–hole recombination and extending the charge carrier lifetime to 14.59 ns, nearly five times that of the pristine CsPbI₂Br system (3.12 ns). This study reveals the impact mechanism of strain on carrier behavior in perovskite solar cells, providing a new non-chemical strategy for modulating the lifetime of photo-generated carriers and enhancing the efficiency of all-inorganic perovskite solar cells.