• Accepted Paper

Elastic, anelastic, and dielectric relaxations associated with the sequence of ferroelastic and isosymmetric phase transitions in the formamidinium lead halide perovskite CH(NH2)2PbBr3

Dexin Yang, Yulin Peng, and Michael A. Carpenter

Phys. Rev. B - Accepted 9 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/m8xs-pf34

Abstract

CH(NH2)2PbBr3 (FAPbBr3) is a semiconductive material with the perovskite structure which has generated intense topical interest due to its potential applications in optoelectronic and spintronic devices. Its functional properties are related in part, at least, to a phenomenologically rich sequence of structural instabilities driven by octahedral tilting and dynamic effects of the FA+ cations. Measurements of elastic, anelastic and dielectric properties, linear thermal expansion and heat capacity have been used to provide an unambiguous description of the full sequence of transitions. The octahedral tilting transitions at ~264 and ~183 K conform to 246 and close to 26 (tricritical) Landau potentials. First-order isosymmetric transitions driven by abrupt changes in FA+ configurations occur at ~161, 152, 145, 121 K during cooling and at ~162, 152, 122 K during heating. A succession of further loss peaks below 100 K, relating primarily to dynamics of the FA+ cations, reveal thermally activated relaxations with a spread of relaxation times and activation energies in the range ~0.01-0.15 eV. Acoustic loss in the temperature interval ~180-230 K indicates that ferroelastic domain walls in the stability field of the tetragonal structure were mobile under the low stress conditions that apply during measurements by Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy, with likely pinning by Br-vacancies below ~200 K. Overall patterns of hysteresis, particularly in dielectric loss behaviour in the temperature interval ~250-350 K, point to a thermal history dependence of the configurations of the FA+ cations. The diversity of possible interactions of FA+ cations with domain walls, antiphase boundaries and the perovskite framework has the potential to lead to polar or optoelectronic properties localised specifically within the domain walls.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation

If the author has provided any supplemental materials with this article they will be available upon publication of the version of record.

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation