Organohalide Perovskites are Fast Ionic Conductors

Abstract

Fast ionic conductors constitute a family of materials exhibiting high values of the ionic conductivity while their crystal structure remains rather rigid. Perovskite-like compounds are known to be good ionic conductors with applications as solid electrolytes. In hybrid halide perovskites both intrinsic (native) and extrinsic defect migration are regarded to occur. Ion diffusivity analysis is inherently ambiguous in all-solid-state configurations because of the multicomponent environment. Here, a liquid electrolyte in contact to the perovskite material forms a reservoir of Li+ that is forced to intercalate and migrate within the perovskite electrode. This approach decouples different contributions to transport in such a way that ion diffusion kinetics is easily accessible by means of impedance methods. The room-temperature chemical diffusion coefficient of lithium ion within the perovskite lattice exhibits values as high as Dμ ≈ 10−7 cm2 s−1, which implies conductivities within the range of 10−3 Ω−1 cm−1 for highly lithiated electrodes. This confirms the superionic intrinsic property of organohalide perovskites from a direct and unambiguous measurement that does not rely upon simulation tools.