Bidirectional Halide Ion Exchange in Paired Lead Halide Perovskite Films with Thermal Activation

MAPbBr 3 and MAPbI 3 films cast onto glass slides and physically paired together undergo halide exchange to form mixed halide films. The change in halide composition in these two ∼130 nm thick films occurs concurrently with Br – diffusing toward the MAPbI 3 film and I – diffusing toward the MAPbBr 3 film. The diffusion of these halide species, which is tracked through changes in the absorption, offers a direct measurement of thermally activated halide diffusion in perovskite films. The increase in the rate constant of halide diffusion with increasing temperature (from 8.3 × 10 –6 s –1 at 23 °C to 3.7 × 10 –4 s –1 at 140 °C) follows an Arrhenius relationship with activation energy of 51 kJ/mol. The thermally activated halide exchange shows the challenges of employing layers of different metal halide perovskites in stable tandem solar cells.