Publication date: 22nd July 2026
Metal halide perovskites have shown tremendous promise as absorber layers for next-generation photovoltaic devices benefiting from their intriguing photophysical behaviours. Given that their performance and stability are strongly influenced by the structural and electronic states established during film formation, it is imperative to develop a predictive understanding of how growth pathways and chemical environments determine these states. Such understanding is particularly important for vapour-deposited perovskites, which offer excellent prospects for scalable manufacturing but remain highly sensitive to interfacial and compositional perturbations.
In this talk, I will present our recent efforts to modulate the structural and electronic states of vapour-deposited perovskite semiconductors through interface and chemical engineering. First, I will discuss how buried templating layers direct crystallisation pathways and influence phase evolution during co-evaporation. By modifying the interfacial environment, we demonstrate controlled changes in crystal orientation, microstructure, and device performance, revealing the critical role of interfaces in determining the structural states that emerge during growth [1].
I will then show how impurities in formamidinium iodide influence perovskite formation through fundamentally different mechanisms depending on the deposition route. While impurities act as defect modifiers in solution-processed systems, they perturb stoichiometric evolution and crystallisation pathways in vapour-deposited perovskites, leading to distinct structural and electronic outcomes [2]. These results highlight the remarkable sensitivity of perovskite functionality to subtle chemical perturbations and provide new insight into the relationship between precursor purity, film formation, and long-term device stability.
Collectively, these studies reveal how interfaces and chemical composition govern the emergence of structural and electronic states in vapour-deposited perovskites. More broadly, they illustrate how controlling the emergence and evolution of structural and electronic states can provide new routes towards improved photovoltaic performance, enhanced operational stability, and scalable manufacturing of perovskite solar cells.
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, UK) and the Leverhulme Trust. The authors also acknowledge the EPSRC National Thin Film Facility for Advanced Functional Materials (NTCF), hosted by the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, and Dr Jin Yao, Matthew Naylor, and the facility staff for their support.
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