Analysis of misidentifications in TEM characterisation of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite material

Abstract

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) have recently emerged as groundbreaking semiconductor materials owing to their remarkable properties. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as a very powerful characterisation tool, has been widely used in perovskite materials for structural analysis and phase identification. However, the perovskites are highly sensitive to electron beams and easily decompose into PbX₂ (X = I, Br, Cl) and metallic Pb. The electron dose of general high-resolution TEM is much higher than the critical dose of MAPbI₃ , which results in universal misidentifications that PbI₂ and Pb are incorrectly labelled as perovskite. The widely existed mistakes have negatively affected the development of perovskite research fields. Here misidentifications of the best-known MAPbI₃ perovskite are summarised and corrected, then the causes of mistakes are classified and ascertained. Above all, a solid method for phase identification and practical strategies to reduce the radiation damage for perovskite materials have also been proposed. This review aims to provide the causes of mistakes and avoid misinterpretations in perovskite research fields in the future.

Keywords: MAPbI3; electron diffraction (ED); organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs); phase identification; transmission electron microscopy (TEM).