Impact of Mesoporous Silicon Template Pore Dimension and Surface Chemistry on Methylammonium Lead Trihalide Perovskite Photophysics

Abstract In influencing fundamental properties—and ultimately device performance—of lead halide perovskites, interfacial interactions play a major role, notably with regard to carrier diffusion and recombination. Here anodized porous Si (pSi) as well as porous silica particles are employed as templates for formation of methylammonium lead trihalide nanostructures. This allows synthesis of relatively small perovskite domains and comparison of associated interfacial chemistry between as‐prepared hydrophobic hydrideterminated functionalities and hydrophilic oxide‐terminated surfaces. While physical confinement of MAPbBr₃ has a uniform effect on carrier lifetime, pore size (7–18 nm) of the silicon‐containing template has a sensitive influence on perovskite photoluminescence (PL) wavelength maximum. Furthermore, identity of the surface functionality of the template significantly alters the PL quantum efficiency, with lowest PL intensity associated with the H‐terminated pSi and the most intense PL affiliated with the oxideterminated pSi surface. These effects are explored for green‐emitting MAPbBr₃ as well as infrared‐emitting MAPbI₃. In addition, the role of silicon surface chemistry on the time‐dependent stability of these perovskites packaged within a given mesoporous template is also evaluated, specifically, a lack of miscibility between MAPbI₃ and the H‐terminated pSi template results in a diffusion of this specific perovskite composition eluting from this porous matrix over time.