Diffusion effect on the decay of time-resolved photoluminescence under low illumination in lead halide perovskites

Time-resolved photoluminescence(TRPL)has been extensively used to measure the carrier lifetime in lead halide perovskites.The TRPL curves of perovskite materials are usually fitted with a multi-exponential function,instead of a single exponential one.This was considered to be a result of the surface and the bulk recombination or the additional radiative recombination caused by the high excited carrier density.Here,a new model considering the diffusion and the trap-assisted recombination of carriers is proposed to explain the TRPL curves.The expressions of the TRPL curves and the transient absorption(TA)dynamic curves are theoretically derived,demonstrating that the TRPL curve is an infinite exponential series,regardless of the presence of surface recombination or not.Our newly developed highly sensitive nanosecond TA and TRPL were employed to measure the carrier dynamics of the same sample under low illumination in the linear response region of TA,thereby experimentally verifying our model.These results suggest that the decay of the TRPL is not only a consequence of the carrier recombination but also the carrier diffusion.TRPL cannot provide a direct measurement of the carrier lifetime,whereas TA spectroscopy can.Furthermore,the surface and the bulk recombination can be resolved and the average diffusion coefficient(D)can also be correctly obtained by combining TRPL and TA measurements.We also propose an approximate method for calculating the carrier lifetime and diffusion coefficient of high-quality perovskite films.Our model provides not only a new interpretation of the dynamics of the PL decay but also a deep insight into the carrier dynamics in the nanosecond time scale under working condition of perovskites solar cells.