Conformational disorder of organic cations tunes the charge carrier mobility in two-dimensional organic-inorganic perovskites

The chemical nature of the organic cations governs the optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional organic-inorganic perovskites. But its mechanism is not fully understood. Here, we apply femtosecond broadband sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy to investigate the molecular conformation of spacer organic cations in two-dimensional organic-inorganic perovskite films and establish a correlation among the conformation of the organic cations, the charge carrier mobility, and broadband emission. Our study indicates that both the mobility and broadband emission show strong dependence on the molecular conformational order of organic cations. The gauche defect and local chain distortion of organic cations are the structural origin of the in-plane mobility reduction and broad emission in two-dimensional organic-inorganic perovskites. Both of the interlayer distance and the conformational order of the organic cations affect the out-of-plane mobility. This work provides molecular-level understanding of the conformation of organic cations in optimizing the optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional organic-inorganic perovskites. Understanding the correlation between molecular structure and properties of 2D hybrid perovskites is crucial for material design and device performance. Here, the authors reveal that conformation of organic cations in the inorganic cages has strong effects on charge mobility and broadband emission behaviour.