Temperature Evolution of Methylammonium Trihalide Vibrations at the Atomic Scale

The temperature evolution of vibrations of CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPI) is studied by combining first principles and classical molecular dynamics and compared to available experimental data. The work has a fundamental character showing that it is possible to reproduce the key features of the vibrational spectrum by the simple physical quantities included in the classical model, namely the ionic-dispersive hybrid interactions and the mass difference between organic and inorganic components. The dynamics reveals a sizable temperature evolution of the MAPI spectrum along with the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal-to-cubic transformation and a strong dependence on molecular confinement and order. The thermally induced weakening of the H-I interactions and the anharmonic mixing of modes give two vibrational peaks at 200-250 cm(-1) that are not present at zero temperature and are expected to have detectable infrared activity. The infrared inactive vibrational peak at similar to 140 cm(-1) due to molecular spinning disappears abruptly at the orthorhombic-to--tetragonal transition and forms a broad molecular band red-shifting progressively with temperature. This trend is correlated to the reduced confinement of the rotating cations due to thermal expansion of the lattice.