Hybrid organic-inorganic metal perovskites have emerged as highly promising materials for solar energy conversion. However, key questions regarding the working principles of perovskite solar cells remain to be answered in order to improve the design of such devices. In the present study, we have investigated the influence of excess excitation energy on the initial photo-products generated from FTO/meso-TiO2/CH3NH3PbI3 samples. We find that upon resonant excitation at the band edge, part of the formation of free charges passes via an excitonic state that dissociates on the sub-picosecond time scale. An exciton binding energy of
Michael Graetzel, Shaik Mohammed Zakeeruddin, Felix Thomas Eickemeyer, Peng Wang, Ming Ren