Static and Dynamic Disorder in Formamidinium Lead Bromide Single Crystals

Abstract

We show that formamidinium-based crystals are distinct from methylammonium-based halide perovskite crystals because their inorganic sublattice exhibits intrinsic local static disorder that coexists with a well-defined average crystal structure. Our study combines terahertz-range Raman scattering with single-crystal X-ray diffraction and first-principles calculations to probe the evolution of inorganic sublattice dynamics with temperature in the range of 10-300 K. The temperature evolution of the Raman spectra shows that low-temperature, local static disorder strongly affects the crystal structural dynamics and phase transitions at higher temperatures.