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Letter
Pressure Induced Polymorphic, Optical and Electronic
Transitions of Formamidinium Lead Iodide Perovskite
Pan Wang, Jiwen Guan, Draven T. K. Galeschuk, Yansun Yao, Cindy Fung He,
Shan Jiang, Sijia Zhang, Ying Liu, Meiling Jin, Changqing Jin, and Yang Song
J. Phys. Chem. Lett., Just Accepted Manuscript • Publication Date (Web): 25 Apr 2017
Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on April 25, 2017

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Page 1 of 17 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

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Pressure Induced Polymorphic, Optical and Electronic
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Transitions of Formamidinium Lead Iodide Perovskite
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14 Pan Wang†, Jiwen Guan‡, Draven T. K. Galeschuk§, Yansun Yao§¶, Cindy F. He†, Shan Jiang†, Sijia
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16 Zhang#, Ying Liu#, Meiling Jin#, Changqing Jin# and Yang Song*†‡ǁ
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Department of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
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Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7,
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24 Canada
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Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2,
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30 Canada
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33 Canadian Light Source Inc., Saskatoon, SK S7N 2V3, Canada
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36 Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
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39 Soochow University-Western University Centre for Synchrotron Radiation Research, The University of
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41 Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
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47 *Corresponding Author: Yang Song, Email: yang.song@uwo.ca
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 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Page 2 of 17

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2 Abstract: Formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) perovskite as a superior solar cell material was
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4 investigated in two polymorphs at high pressures using in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction, FTIR
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6 spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, electrical conductivity (EC) measurements, and ab
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8 initio calculations. We identified two new structures (i.e., Imm2 and Immm) for α-FAPbI3, but only a
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10 structural distortion (in C2/c) for δ-FAPbI3 on compression. Pressure-enhanced hydrogen bond plays a
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prominent role in structural modifications, as corroborated by FTIR spectroscopy. PL measurements
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15 and calculations consistently show the structure- and pressure-dependences of the bandgap energies.
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17 Finally, EC measurements reveal drastically different transport properties of α and δ FAPbI3 at low
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19 pressures, but a common trend to metallic states at high pressures. All these observations suggest
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21 strongly contrasting structural stabilities and pressure tuned optoelectric properties of the two FAPbI3
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23 polymorphs.
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Page 3 of 17 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

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2 Recently, organometal halide perovskite based solar cells have drawn enormous attention due to
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4 their superior properties and high power conversion efficiency (PCE).1-3 Substantial efforts have been
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6 made over the past several years to improve the PCE (e.g., from 3.8% to 21.1%)4 on methylammonium
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8 (CH3NH3+ or MA) lead triiodide (CH3NH3PbI3 or MAPbI3) by tuning the bandgap energy (1.5 to 2.3
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10 eV) using different halide ions.5-6 Compared to MA, the formamidinium cation (NH2CH=NH2+ or FA)
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is slightly larger, and therefore formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI3) has a smaller bandgap (1.45 eV),
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15 a broader absorption spectrum,3, 7-10
and ultimately a greater PCE in solar cells.2 Currently, three
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17 polymorphs of FAPbI3 are known at ambient conditions (i.e. α, β and δ phases).11 The α-phase has a
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19 trigonal perovskite structure (space group P3m1), which is an excellent solar cell material over a broad
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21 solar spectrum.11-12 The δ-FAPbI3 has non-perovskite structure (P63mc) and is not suitable for
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23 photovoltaic applications due to a larger band gap (~2.48 eV).13 Compared to the well-studied MAPbI3,
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the understanding of α-FAPbI3 and its phase stabilities are still limited, which poses a challenge in the
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28 fabrication.9
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30 Application of external static pressure can effectively alter the crystal structures, and produce new
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32 polymorphs with improved photovoltaic properties and performance. In particular, solar cell materials
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34 modified under high pressures may possess novel and tunable electronic, optical, magnetic and
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36 mechanical properties.8, 10, 14-27
For instance, all MA based perovskite undergo pressure-induced
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structural transitions and property changes.10, 14, 16-19, 21-23, 26
The FA based perovskites, on the other
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41 hand, have different behaviors at high pressures in that FAPbBr3 undergoes phase transitions,15 whereas
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43 FAPbI3 remains stable.28 Moreover, the influence of the FA moiety in the perovskite materials remains
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45 unclear due to limited studies. Here we report a high-pressure investigation of α- and δ-FAPbI3 by in
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47 situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy,
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49 photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, electrical conductivity (EC) measurements, and density
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functional theory (DFT) calculations. Our results reveal pressure-induced new polymorphs of FAPbI3
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54 with contrasting structural stabilities and properties. The demonstrated structure-property correlation
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56 provides a practical guidance in the design and engineering of new solar cell materials.
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 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Page 4 of 17

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2 (a) (b)
3
4 0.01 GPa
5 0.36 GPa
6 0.81 GPa
7 1.28 GPa
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9 2.87 GPa
Intensity (a.u.)

10
5.59 GPa
11
4.00 GPa
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13 3.04 GPa
(c)
2.18 GPa
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15 1.67 GPa
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1.07 GPa
17 ♦
♦
18 ♦ ♦ 0.34 GPa

19 100 200 210 220 300

110 111
211 ambient
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22 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
23 2θ (degree)
24 (d) 0.34 GPa, Imm2 (e) 1.67 GPa, Immm
25 Experimental Experimental

26 Rwp=10.7% Calculated Calculated

Rwp=10.8%
27 Rp=8.7% Difference Difference
Rp=6.8%
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Intensity (a.u.)

Reflections Reflections
Intensity (a.u.)

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4 6 8 10 12 14 16 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
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37 2θ (degree) 2θ (degree)
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39 Figure 1. XRD patterns of α-FAPbI3 upon compression and decompression (a), proposed crystal
40 structures of high-pressure phase II (b) and phase III (c) based on MD simulations, and calculated XRD
41 patterns in comparison with experimental results at 0.34 GPa (d) and 1.67 GPa (e) using Rietveld
42 refinement.
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46 We synthesized both α and δ phase FAPbI3 using the previously reported methods.2, 29 The XRD
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48 patterns of synthesized materials are in excellent agreement with the literature data indicating the high
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50 purity of as-made samples. Structural refinement suggests that the α-phase has a Pm3m structure,
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52 consistent with recently reported cubic structure13, while the δ-phase has a P63mc structure2, 11 (Figure
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S1). Figure 1a (S3a) shows selected XRD patterns of α-FAPbI3 (δ-FAPbI3) at high pressure (See SI for
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57 detailed XRD analysis for δ-FAPbI3). At 0.34 GPa, the XRD pattern of α-FAPbI3 exhibits new
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Page 5 of 17 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

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2 reflection peaks, indicating the formation of a new structure (designated as phase II). At 1.67 GPa,
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4 another new reflection appeared at 8.8° together with the asymmetrization of several other reflections,
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6 indicating the transition to another phase (phase III). The XRD pattern upon compression to 4 GPa
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displays a broad profile at 9.5° indicating an lattice amorphization, although a small portion of the sub-
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11 lattice remains crystalline, similar to other perovskite materials.14-16, 22
Upon decompression,
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13 remarkably, the recovered phase at near ambient pressure exhibits a pattern similar to phase II instead of
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15 the ambient phase I (which can be refined using phase II structure – see following and Table S1),
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17 indicating an irreversible transition. This observation is in direct contrast to the recently reported high-
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19 pressure behavior of FAPbI3,28 where a different starting structure was used, which showed no
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structural transitions at high pressure. The starting structure of α-FAPbI3 is therefore highly sensitive to
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24 the detailed preparation procedures.
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26 α-FAPbI3 has been reported to gradually transform to δ phase at ambient conditions2, 30. However,
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28 the diffraction patterns of phase II and III clearly do not match to the δ phase structure, indicating both
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30 are new phases. We performed ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to search for possible
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32 structures for phase II and III. The simulation at ambient conditions reveals free rotations of FA
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molecules and an average cubic structure, consistent with experimental result. With increasing pressure,
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37 the interaction between FA and PbI6 octahedrons are enhanced which leads to confined FA vibrations
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39 and unit cell distortions. The most probable structures discovered in the MD simulations for phase II
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41 and III are both orthorhombic with space group Imm2 and Immm respectively (Figure 1b and 1c). Using
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43 these structures, the calculated diffraction patterns excellently reproduced experimental data (Fig 1d and
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45 1e), giving the reduced cell parameters of a = 6.2475 Å, b = 6.2450 Å, and c = 6.2714 Å for phase II
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47 and a = 6.1132 Å, b = 6.0920 Å and c = 6.1792 Å for phase III structures respectively. Interestingly, the
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Imm2 structure for α-FAPbI3 is similar to the that of β-FASnI311 while the Immm structure is similar to a
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52 MAPbI3 structure found favorable above 2.7 GPa.16 In addition, the enthalpy calculation (Figure S2)
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54 indicates that Imm2 and Immm are indeed low-energy structures not only with increasing pressures, but
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56 even at ambient pressure, consistent with the experimental observation that the recovered phase retains
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 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Page 6 of 17

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2 Imm2 structure. Upon compression, the first phase transition ( Pm3m to Imm2) can be characterized by a
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4 tilting between two adjacent PbI6 octahedrons as well as the distortion of individual PbI6 octahedron
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6 leading to modified Pb-I-Pb angles (166.8°, 144.0°, 177.8°). The subsequent Imm2-to-Immm transition
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9 is a further distortion of the unit cell leading to considerable change of Pb-I-Pb angles to 143.0° and
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11 154.5° but no tilting along the c axis (i.e., Pb-I-Pb angle remains 180°). The unit cell parameters as a
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13 function of pressure (Table S1 and Figure S5) suggests that the first transition is smooth and continuous,
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15 but the second transition at 1.67 GPa has an unusual expansion of the c axis, and an anomaly of the unit
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cell volume at the phase boundary. This unusual behavior could be associated with the tilting of the PbI6
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20 polyhedron as a result of anisotropic compressibility of the crystal axes (see below).
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22 (a)
23 0.5
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25 14.98 GPa
12.98 GPa
26 11.80 GPa
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Absorbance

8.24 GPa
6.50 GPa
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29 4.13 GPa
3.23 GPa
30 2.58 GPa
1.70 GPa
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32 1.07 GPa
0.50 GPa
33 0.23 GPa
34 0.04 GPa

35 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 3000 3300 3600

36 Wavenumber (cm )
-1

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3400
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40 1500

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Frequency (cm )
-1
Frequency (cm )

1400
-1

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0 2 4 6 8
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Pressure (GPa) Pressure (GPa)
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52 Figure 2. FTIR spectra of α-FAPbI3 upon compression (a) and pressure dependence of selected IR
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modes (b) and (c).
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Page 7 of 17 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

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2 To explore the pressure effects on the FA moiety and cation-anion interactions, we performed in
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4 situ FTIR spectroscopy (Figure 2 and S6). In the mid-IR region, the optical absorption is exclusively
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6 attributed to the vibrations from organic FA (H2N+=CHNH2) (Table S2). Upon compression, the
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8 pressure dependence (Table S3) collectively exhibits discontinuities at 0.5 GPa and 1.7 GPa for α-
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10 FAPbI3, in agreement with the identified transition boundaries. The pressure-induced profile broadening
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above 4 GPa is also consistent with the structural amorphization suggested by XRD measurements.
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15 Most of observed IR modes especially the N-H and C-H stretching region (3250-3400 cm-1) exhibit
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17 prominent red shift in the entire compression region for both α and δ-FAPbI3 (Table S3 and S4),
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19 indicating a pressure-induced enhancement of hydrogen bond interactions. The pressure-induced mode
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21 softening of X-H bond has been widely accepted as a strong evidence for the formation and
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23 enhancement of X-H⋅⋅⋅Y hydrogen bond causing the weakening of the X-H bond.31 MD simulation
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26 reveals that the rotations of FA molecules are reduced at high pressure to ordered oscillations (C as the
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28 pivot point), which engages a stronger hydrogen bonding between the FA and PbI6 via highly effective
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30 H⋅⋅⋅I interactions, with the shortest H⋅⋅⋅I distance of 2.4 Å (see Figure S7). In contrast to the MA based
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32 counterparts, the FA perovskite is clearly influenced by hydrogen bonding, which, in turn, causes the
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polymorphic transitions to be significantly different from the former.
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 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Page 8 of 17

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2 (a)
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7 (b) (c) 3.5
8 recovered 824 nm
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10 3.58 GPa
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2.5
12 3.30 GPa
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Intensity (arb. unit)

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Pressure (GPa)
3.15 GPa 2.0
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16 2.38 GPa
1.5
17 1.73 GPa
18 1.31 GPa
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1.0
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0.56 GPa
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23 0.14 GPa
0.0
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780 800 820 840 860 880 900 1.42 1.44 1.46 1.48
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26 Wavelenghth (nm) Energy (eV)
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28 Figure 3. Optical micrographs of α-FAPbI3 upon compression and recovery (a), PL spectra of α-FAPbI3
29 upon compression and decompression (b) and the corresponding pressure dependence (c).
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32 Critical to photovoltaics applications, optical response of FAPbI3 was examined as a function of
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34 pressure using optical microscope (Figure 3a and S8) and PL spectroscopy (Figure 3b and 3c). Upon
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36 compression to 4.5 GPa near the amorphization threshold, α-FAPbI3 gradually changes from black to a
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38 prominent red, and maintains this color at higher pressures. The color reverses to black after pressure
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40 release. In contrast, the δ-phase initially remains yellow but gradually darkens to orange at 6.4 GPa, and
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finally becomes red at higher pressures. Unique piezochromism observed here when compared to other
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45 organolead halide perovskite materials , suggests that the optical properties of perovskite
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47 materials are structure dependent and cation specific. At ambient pressure, a PL peak was observed at
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49 838 nm (1.48 eV) for α-FAPbI3, close to the band gap energy (1.45 eV). On compression, the peak is
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51 shifted to red and exhibits a split profile with an additional PL channel. The pressure-induced additional
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53 PL channel was also observed in hybrid organolead halide perovskite materials (e.g.,
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MAPb(Br0.6I0.4)3)14. Therefore, it is highly likely that the non-equivalent iodine ligands in the pressure-
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58 distorted PbI6 octahedra give rise to new PL states. Upon further compression, the major PL channel
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Page 9 of 17 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

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2 undergoes an abrupt red shift at 1.73 GPa. Above 3.6 GPa, both channels were suppressed. Upon
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4 decompression, the PL was recovered with a modified profile and peak position of 824 nm. The
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6 evolution of PL peaks shows that band gap energy reaches a minimum of 1.42 eV at about 3 GPa and
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8 then increases. This is in contrast to a recent optical measurement on α-FAPbI3 where the bandgap has a
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10 monotonic reduction under pressure (to 1.337 eV)28 in a single structure. Without structural changes, the
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lattice contraction would play the major role regulating the PL energy levels. With the lattice distortion
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15 and amorphization, however, they outweigh the lattice contraction and lead to the increment of the
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17 bandgap and total suppression of the PL activity.22 Moreover, the pressure-induced new PL channels
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19 provide a new approach in tuning optical properties in addition to traditional chemical approaches.
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21 (b)
(a) 4 1.6
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23 3
24 2 1.4
Energy, E-EVBM (eV)

Total
25

Bandgap (eV)
Pb 6s

26 1 Pb 6p
1.35eV I 5s
1.2
27 0 I 5p

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29 -1
1.0
30 -2 Imm2 & Immm
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32 -3 0.8
Experiment
33 -4
34 Γ Z T R U X Γ T 0 2 4 0 1 2 3 4 5
-1
DOS (e /eV per f.u.)
35 Pressure (GPa)
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37 Figure 4. Band structures and projected DOS of α-FAPbI3 (a) at ambient pressure and calculated
38 bandgap energy vs pressure (b).
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40 The electronic band structure and density of states (DOS) (Figure 4 and S9) reveal that in FAPbI3
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42 the valence bands are dominated by I 5p orbitals. The FA cation has notable contributions only to the
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conduction bands. The α-FAPbI3 is a direct band gap semiconductor with a calculated band gap energy
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47 of 1.35 eV at ambient pressure. The experimental band gap energies are well matched to the Imm2 and
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49 Immm structures. With increasing pressure, the band structures do not have fundamental changes
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51 (Figure S9), but the band gap energy decreases (Figure 4b). This agrees with the experiment except the
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53 amorphization-induced band gap change near 3 GPa cannot be examined in crystalline phase. The
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55 reduction of the band gap suggests a greater level of orbital overlap in the PbI6 octahedrons, which is
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naturally induced by the Pb-I bond contraction at high pressure. The FA cations, on the other hand, only
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 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Page 10 of 17

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2 have a minor role in determining the band gap. The δ-FAPbI3 has an indirect band gap with Eg=2.5 eV
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4 at ambient pressure, which also reduces with pressure (Figure S10). At high pressure, the δ-phase is
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6 distorted to a C2/c structure which has a larger band gap compared to the undistorted P63mc phase.
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8 Here the increment of the band gap is due to the distortion within the PbI6 octahedrons, which moves
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10 away from ideal Oh geometry to a distorted square-planar configuration, as a result of molecular tiling
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and meshing at high pressure. Apparently, the band gaps in both structures can be tuned effectively
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15 within a few GPa range. This suggests a possibility of functional manipulation of larger bandgap
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17 materials to photovoltaic active materials utilizing the externally applied pressure.
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19 11
10
20 10
11
10
21 10
22 10
9

23 8 R (ohm)
10
10
10
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25
7
10
26 10
6
10
9
R (ohm)

27 5
10
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29 10
4
10
8

30 10
3
1 2 3 4 5

31 2
Pressure (GPa)
32 10 α−FAPbI3
33 10
1
δ−FAPbI3
34 0
10
35
36 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
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Pressure (GPa)
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39 Figure 5. Electrical resistance of α and δ phase of FAPbI3 as a function of pressure. The inset shows
40 detailed comparison of the electrical resistance of α and δ phase of FAPbI3 in the pressure region of 0-5
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GPa.
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43 Finally, we investigated the EC of both polymorphs as shown in Figure 5. Near ambient pressure,
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the α and δ-FAPbI3 have respective resistance of 1.1 × 109 and 1.7 × 1011 Ohm. The resistance
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48 difference is consistent with the relative order of the band gap energies (i.e., 1.45 eV vs 2.48 eV) and
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50 the direct vs. indirect band structures as well. However, the absolute values for both polymorphs are
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52 surprisingly high for a semiconductor. Here the sample size, thickness, particle packing, grain
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54 boundaries, as well as the distortion of the FA cations may physically influent the electrical
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measurement (see SI). With increasing pressure, the resistance of α-FAPbI3 reduced significantly to 3.1
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Page 11 of 17 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

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2 × 108 Ohm at 2.6 GPa, but for δ-FAPbI3 the reduction is minor (Figure 5 inset). The dramatic reduction
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4 in the former coincides with the structural transitions while the minor change in the latter is a reflection
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6 of structural distortion to a less degree. For both cases, the pressure induced reduction can be attributed
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8 to the contraction of the PbI6 octahedra. Upon compression to 4.5 GPa, the resistance of α-FAPbI3
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rapidly increase by two orders of magnitude followed by a plateau region till 15 GPa (11 GPa for δ
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13 phase), where the conductivity is predominated by amorphization.22 After that, the conductivity
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15 dramatically increased by over 9 orders of magnitude as a result of compression to around 35 GPa for
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17 both polymorphs, indicating the appearance of a metallic state. To verify this, we performed low
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19 temperature measurements of resistance at different pressures (Figure S11). From the contrasting
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21 temperature dependence of resistance of semiconductors and metals, we can propose that
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semiconductor-to-metal transition for α- and δ-FAPbI3 occurs at 53 GPa and 41 GPa respectively. The
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26 pressure-induced metallization of FAPbI3 is consistent with theoretical predictions of monotonic
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28 decreasing bandgap energies.
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30 Overall, the XRD, IR, PL and electrical measurements collectively revealed contrasting stabilities
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32 of two polymorphs of FAPbI3. The optical and electrical properties of α-FAPbI3 is more susceptible to
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34 external compression, indicating lower stability compared to δ-FAPbI3, which is consistent with
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reported relative chemical stabilities. In photovoltaic applications, pressure-tuned new polymorphs from
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39 promising precursors offer excellent opportunities to develop performance improved devices. It would
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41 be particularly interesting to evaluate the pressure-modified materials (e.g., recovered Imm2 structure)
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43 in the fabrication of solar cell devices. Moreover, our observations suggest that although the FA cations
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45 have limited contribution to the properties, they influence the overall structural stability via cation-anion
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47 interactions topologically. So far, studies on perovskite materials are primarily focused on mixed halide
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moiety in the form of MAPbIxBr3-x. It would be interesting to explore the possibility of mixing the
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cations, such as MAxFA(1-x)PbBr3 or MAxFA(1-x)PbI3 for structural studies and photovoltaic applications.
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54 In summary, we investigated structures and properties of FAPbI3 in two polymorphs
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56 comparatively by using in situ synchrotron XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, PL spectroscopy, EC
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 The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Page 12 of 17

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2 measurements, and ab initio simulations. We observed two phase transitions for α-FAPbI3 at 0.3 GPa
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4 and 1.7 GPa but only structural distortions for δ-FAPbI3 upon compression. The new structures were
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6 identified using XRD with the assistance of MD simulations. The structural modifications in both
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8 polymorphs are strongly mediated by hydrogen bond, as manifested by in situ FTIR spectroscopy
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10 unambiguously. The α-FAPbI3 exhibits pressure-dependent PL activities revealing structure regulated
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bandgaps, which was excellently reproduced by DFT calculations. Finally, α and δ-FAPbI3 exhibit
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15 strongly contrasting pressure regulated dc conductivities in the low pressure region, but both approach
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17 to metallic states at high pressures. These observations suggest external compression not only reveal
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19 contrasting structural stabilities, but effectively tune the optoelectric properties of both polymorphs. Our
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21 study thus provides valuable insight into the design and engineering of organolead halide perovskite
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23 based solar cell materials.
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27 Experimental Section
28
29 We synthesized both α and δ phase FAPbI3 using the previously reported methods2, 29
. The
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31
synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction using Co Kα radiation to check the phase
32
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34 identity and purity. Static high pressure was achieved using diamond anvil cells with various culet sizes
35
36 and different optical types. In situ angle dispersive high-pressure X-ray micro-diffraction measurements
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38 were carried out at Sector 20 ID of Advanced Photo Source, Argonne National Laboratory. The in situ
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40 high-pressure FTIR spectroscopy was conducted using a customized FTIR microscope. The optical
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42 microphotographs were collected from a Leica stereo microscope. For PL measurements were carried
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44
out using a customized Raman spectrometer with a 532 nm excitation laser. The in situ electrical
45
46
47 conductivity measurements were done using Maglab system. All calculations were performed using the
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49 projector-augmented planewave (PAW) method32 with first principles implementations of density
50
51 functional theory (DFT) in the Vienna Ab Initio Simulation (VASP) program33. See Supporting
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53 Information for experimental and computational details.
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2 Acknowledgements
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4 This work was supported by two Discovery Grants, a RTI Grant from NSERC of Canada, a Leaders
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6 Opportunity Fund from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and an Early Researcher Award from
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8 the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. We thank Dr. C. Sun for his technical assistance in
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10 the XRD experiments. This work was partially performed at Sector 20, Advanced Photon Source (APS),
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12 Argonne National Laboratory supported by the US Department of Energy and the Canadian Light
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14
Source. Computing resources were provided by the University of Saskatchewan, WestGrid, and
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17 Compute Canada.
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19
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21 Associated Content
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Additional experimental and computational details, XRD analysis of δ-FAPbI3, structural
23
24
25 information, IR spectroscopic analysis, band structure calculations and electrical conductivity at low
26
27 temperatures.
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29
30
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32 References
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34 (1) Service, R. F. Perovskite Solar Cells Keep On Surging. Science 2014, 344, 458-458.
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