Electric-Field-Induced Ion Migration Behavior in Methylammonium Lead Iodide Perovskite

Ionic movement inside organometal halide perovskites (OMHP) materials has been widely reported to be linked with stability issues in the perovskite-based optoelectronic devices. However, the dynamic processes of the ionic movement and how they influence the devices are still not well-understood. In this work, we applied an external electric field to the CH3NH3PbI3 crystal and simultaneously monitored the PL behaviors. Two successive PL responses were observed in the same location of the crystal. First, an irreversible PL quenching was observed caused by the photo-annealing effect under an electric field accompanied by a permanent morphology change. The annealed area also showed reversible PL variation, which was attributed to the activation–deactivation of the radiative recombination centers induced by the migration of the iodine ions. Such results can help us gain a deep insight into how the ionic movements in OMHPs influence the performance of the perovskite-based optoelectronic devices under working conditions.