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Multi-Stage Phase-Segregation of Mixed Halide Perovskites under Illumination: A Quantitative Comparison of Experimental Observations and Thermodynamic Models

Photo- and charge-carrier induced ion migration is a major challenge when utilizing metal halide perovskite semiconductors for optoelectronic applications. For mixed iodide/bromide perovskites, the compositional instability due to light- or electrical bias induced phase- segregation restricts the exploitation of the entire bandgap range. Previous experimental and theoretical work suggests that excited states or charge-carriers trigger the process but the exact mechanism is still under debate. To identify the mechanism and cause of light-induced phase-segregation phenomena we investigate the full compositional range of methylammonium lead bromide/iodide samples, MAPb(Br$_x$I$_{1-x}$)$_3$ with $x = 0\ldots 1$, by simultaneous in-situ X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectroscopy during illumination. The quantitative comparison of composition-dependent in-situ XRD and PL shows that at excitation densities of 1 sun, only the initial stage of photo-segregation can be rationalized with the previously established thermodynamic models. However, we observe a progression of the phase-segregation that can only be rationalized by considering long-lived accumulative photo-induced material alterations. We suggest that (additional) photo-induced defects, possibly halide vacancies and interstitials, need to be considered to fully rationalize light-induced phase-segregation and anticipate our findings to provide crucial insight for the development of more sophisticated models.