Temperature-Dependent Polarization in Field-Effect Transport and Photovoltaic Measurements of Methylammonium Lead Iodide

While recent improvements in the reported peak power conversion efficiency (PCE) of hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells have been truly astonishing, there are many fundamental questions about the electronic behavior of these materials. Here we have studied a set of electronic devices employing methylammonium lead iodide ((MA)­PbI3) as the active material and conducted a series of temperature-dependent measurements. Field-effect transistor, capacitor, and photovoltaic cell measurements all reveal behavior consistent with substantial and strongly temperature-dependent polarization susceptibility in (MA)­PbI3 at temporal and spatial scales that significantly impact functional behavior. The relative PCE of (MA)­PbI3 photovoltaic cells is observed to reduce drastically with decreasing temperature, suggesting that such polarization effects could be a prerequisite for high-performance device operation.