Persistent Ion Accumulation at Interfaces Improves the Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
The mixed ionic-electronic nature of lead halide perovskites makes their performance in solar cells complex in nature. Ion migration is often associated with negative impacts─such as hysteresis or device degradation─leading to significant efforts to suppress ionic movement in perovskite solar cells. In this work, we demonstrate that ion trapping at the perovskite/electron transport layer interface induces band bending, thus increasing the built-in potential and open-circuit voltage of the device. Quantum chemical calculations reveal that iodine interstitials are stabilized at that interface, effectively trapping them at a remarkably high density of ∼1021 cm-3 which causes the band bending. Despite the presence of this high density of ionic defects, the electronic structure calculations show no sub-band-gap states (electronic traps) are formed due to a pronounced perovskite lattice reorganization. Our work demonstrates that ionic traps can have a positive impact on device performance of perovskite solar cells.
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3302-3310 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | ACS energy letters |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Oct 2022 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |