Finetuning 2D Dion-Jacobson perovskites for photovoltaic applications

Canadian and U.S. researchers have investigated applying pressure to a 2D hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite to tune the optical and electronic properties to suit photovoltaic applications, light emitting diodes or other semiconductor devices.

September 3, 2025 Valerie Thompson

Image: University of Western Ontario, Advanced Optical Materials, Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

From pv magazine Global

Two-dimensional (2D) Dion-Jacobson (DJ) phase perovskites have sparked interest in the scientific community due to their stability against harsh environmental conditions and their competitive performance in optoelectronic applications. Solar cells based on DJ perovskites, however, have shown comparatively poor performance compared to their 3D counterparts.

With this in mind, Researchers from the US and Canada, led by a team from Canada’s University of Western Ontario used diamond anvil cell (DAC) technology to apply pressure to 2D Dion-Jacobson hybrid lead iodide perovskite material, known as DPDAPbI4, to investigate how to improve their potential for photovoltaic and other semiconductor applications.

The study involved measuring the structural origins and mechanisms of phase transition and optoelectronic tuning of the hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite (HOIP) material, which revealed “unexpected octahedral distortions under compression,” which was different from previous lead-based 2D material studies.

The work involved a “unique and neat physical” method of compression, or squeezing, to finetune the chemical structures, according to Yang Song, corresponding author of the research, explaining that the aim was to alter optical and electronic properties of the materials in order to tune performance for practical applications, such as photovoltaics.

“We found that under compression, the crystal lattice undergoes unusual distortion that influences the photoluminescence quantum yield, with more than two-fold enhancement. The bandgap energy, a critical parameter for semiconducting materials used in photovoltaics, exhibits a prominent pressure-induced reduction, a desirable behavior potentially for better performance in photovoltaic devices,” Song told pv magazine.

The details of the research, which required using the Canadian Light Source and the Advanced Photon Source at the U.S.-based Argonne National Laboratory, were published in the paper “Pressure-Induced Structural and Optoelectronic Modulations in 2D Dion-Jacobson Hybrid Lead Iodide Perovskites With a Rigid Spacer,” published in Advanced Optical Materials.

The team examined the high-pressure behavior of a Dion-Jacobson type 2D HOIP, DPDAPbI4, which incorporates the rigid organic spacer N,N-dimethylphenylene-p-diammonium (DPDA).

The 2D HOIPs are seen as having superior chemical and thermal stability compared to 3D perovskite counterparts for use as light absorbers, hole transport layers, or passivation layers, according to the researchers.

The team said that the work provides “new insights into the design” of DJ-type 2D HOIPs with rigid organic spacers, paving the way for materials with tunable optical properties. “They are relatively easy to fabricate through solution processes like spin-coating,” said Song.

To determine the behavior under pressure, the team used UV–visible absorption, vibrational spectroscopy, and in situ synchrotron powder X-ray diﬀraction, a continuous wave diode-pumped solid-state laser equipped with a beam splitter, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, in addition to the light sources mentioned above.

For the high-pressure photoluminescence (PL) sample measurements, the DPDAPbI4 crystals were loaded into a diamond anvil cell (DAC) with type II diamonds with 600 µm diameter culets or facets. A diamond anvil cell (DAC) is a research apparatus that can apply static high pressures, up to several million atmospheres.

The research team included scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, both based in the United States.

The researchers are now working on similar research with another type of 2D perovskite that does not contain lead (Pb). “We are exploring Sn (tin) based 2D perovskites to evaluate their optoelectronic properties under high pressure in comparison with the Pb counterpart,” said Song.

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