Acoustic phonon lifetimes limit thermal transport in methylammonium lead iodide

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites are a promising class of materials for efficient and low-cost solar cells. Unlike conventional inorganic semiconductors such as silicon and gallium arsenide, hybrid perovskites feature significant dynamic disorder in their crystal structure. This dynamic disorder can be broadly classified into lattice vibrations (phonons) and molecular rotations. Phonons interact with charge carriers through electron-phonon coupling, which has substantial impacts on the operation of solar cells. Our study shows that acoustic phonons, the type responsible for transmitting heat in conventional semiconductors, have extraordinarily short lifetimes in the archetypal hybrid perovskite methylammonium lead iodide. These short lifetimes have direct implications on the cooling and transport of electrons and reflect a key difference between hybrid perovskites and conventional photovoltaic semiconductors.