Piperidine and Pyridine Series Lead-Free Dion–Jacobson Phase Tin Perovskite Single Crystals and Their Applications for Field-Effect Transistors

Two-dimensional (2D) organic–inorganic metal halide perovskites have gained immense attention as alternatives to three-dimensional (3D) perovskites in recent years. The hydrophobic spacers in the layered structure of 2D perovskites make them more moisture-resistant than 3D perovskites. Moreover, they exhibit unique anisotropic electrical transport properties due to a structural confinement effect. In this study, four lead-free Dion–Jacobson (DJ) Sn-based phase perovskite single crystals, 3AMPSnI4, 4AMPSnI4, 3AMPYSnI4, and 4AMPYSnI4 AMP = (aminomethyl)-piperidinium, AMPY = (aminomethyl)pyridinium are reported. Results reveal structural differences between them impacting the resulting optical properties. Namely, higher octahedron distortion results in a higher absorption edge. Density functional theory (DFT) is also performed to determine the trends in energy band diagrams, exciton binding energies, and formation energies due to structural differences among the four single crystals. Finally, a field-effect transistor (FET) based on 4AMPSnI4 is demonstrated with a respectable hole mobility of 0.57 cm2 V–1 s–1 requiring a low threshold voltage of only −2.5 V at a drain voltage of −40 V. To the best of our knowledge, this is the third DJ-phase perovskite FET reported to date.