Reduced-Toxicity and Highly Luminescent Germanium-Lead Perovskites Enabled by Strain Reduction for Light-Emitting Diodes.

Germanium-lead (Ge-Pb) perovskites provide a promising solution for perovskite optoelectronic devices with reduced toxicity. However, Ge-Pb perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with >30 mol % Ge showed low emission efficiencies [Yang, D.; Zhang, G.; Lai, R.; Cheng, Y.; Lian, Y.; Rao, M.; Huo, D.; Lan, D.; Zhao, B.; Di, D. Germanium-Lead Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes. Nat. Commun. 2021, 12 (1), 4295]. Here, we apply strain engineering to effectively improve the light emission efficiency and stability of Ge-Pb perovskite films and PeLEDs with 30 and 60 mol % Ge, through A-site modulation. The maximum external quantum efficiencies of the Ge-Pb PeLEDs with 30 and 60 mol % Ge are 8.5% and 3.0% at 3.32 mA cm -2 (∼922 cd m -2 ) and 0.53 mA cm -2 (∼60 cd m -2 ), respectively. Time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy analysis of Ge-Pb perovskite films on different hole-transport layers shows that incorporating 30 mol % Ge into the perovskite with mixed A-site cations can effectively suppress trap-assisted recombination. Further analysis of their current density-voltage ( J-V ) curves reveals the efficiency loss mechanisms of Ge-Pb PeLEDs with high Ge fractions, indicating the possibility of further improvements.