Kinetically Controlled Structural Transitions in Layered Halide-Based Perovskites: An Approach to Modulate Spin...

Two-dimensional hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite (HOIP) semiconductors with pronounced spin splitting, mediated by strong spin-orbit coupling and inversion symmetry breaking, offer the potential for spin manipulation in future spintronic applications. However, HOIPs exhibiting significant conduction/valence band splitting are still relatively rare, given the generally observed preference for (near)centrosymmetric inorganic (especially lead-iodide-based) sublattices, and few approaches are available to control this symmetry breaking within a given HOIP. Here, we demonstrate, using (S-2-MeBA)₂PbI₄ (S-2-MeBA = (S)-(-)-2-methylbutylammonium) as an example, that a temperature-induced structural transition (at ∼180 K) serves to change the degree of chirality transfer to and inversion symmetry breaking within the inorganic layer, thereby enabling modulation of HOIP structural and electronic properties. The cooling rate is shown to dictate whether the structural transition occurs─i.e., slow cooling induces the transition while rapid quenching inhibits it. Ultrafast calorimetry indicates a minute-scale structural relaxation time at the transition temperature, while quenching to lower temperatures allows for effectively locking in the metastable room-temperature phase, thus enabling kinetic control over switching between distinct states with different degrees of structural distortions within the inorganic layers at these temperatures. Density functional theory further highlights that the low-temperature phase of (S-2-MeBA)₂PbI₄ shows more significant spin splitting relative to the room-temperature phase. Our work opens a new pathway to use kinetic control of crystal-to-crystal transitions and thermal cycling to modulate spin splitting in HOIPs for future spintronic applications, and further points to using such "sluggish" phase transitions for switching and control over other physical phenomena, particularly those relying on structural distortions and lattice symmetry.