Use of carbon electrodes to reduce mobile ion concentration and improve reliability of metal halide perovskite photovoltaics

Abstract

Ion migration is one of the prime reasons for the rapid degradation of metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs), and we report on a method for quantifying mobile ion concentration (N_o) using a transient dark current measurement. We perform both ex-situ and in-situ measurements on PSCs and study the evolution of N_o in films and devices under a range of temperatures. We also study the effect of device architecture, top electrode chemistry, and metal halide perovskite composition and dimensionality on N_o. Two-dimensional perovskites are shown to reduce the ion concentration along with inert C electrodes that do not react with halides by ~99% while also improving mechanical reliability by ~250%. We believe this work can provide design guidelines for the development of stable PSCs through the lens of minimizing mobile ions and their evolution over time under operational conditions.

Keywords

Perovskite solar cells / ion migration / 2D perovskite / stability / transient dark current / electrochemistry

References

[1] NREL. Champion photovoltaic module efficiency chart. Available from: https://www.nrel.gov/pv/module-efficiency.html [Last accessed on 5 Jun 2024].

[2] Bhattacharya S.Beyond 30% conversion efficiency in silicon solar cells: a numerical demonstration.Sci Rep2019;9:12482 PMCID:PMC6713780

[3] Čulík P,Momblona C.Design and cost analysis of 100 MW perovskite solar panel manufacturing process in different locations.ACS Energy Lett2022;7:3039-44

[4] NREL. Best research-cell efficiency chart. Available from: https://www.nrel.gov/pv/cell-efficiency.html [Last accessed on 5 Jun 2024].

[5] Rivkin B,Sun Q,Chen Z.Effect of ion migration-induced electrode degradation on the operational stability of perovskite solar cells.ACS Omega2018;3:10042-7 PMCID:PMC6644495

[6] Penukula S,Rolston N.Quantifying and reducing ion migration in metal halide perovskites through control of mobile ions.Molecules2023;28:5026 PMCID:PMC10343672

[7] Bi E,Li C,Yan Y.Mitigating ion migration in perovskite solar cells.Trends Chem2021;3:575-88

[8] Tayagaki T,Murakami TN.Temperature-dependent ion migration and mobile-ion-induced degradation of perovskite solar cells under illumination.Solar Energy Mater Solar Cells2023;257:112387

[9] Wu Z,Miao S.Unraveling the rapid ion migration in perovskite solar cells by circuit-switched transient photoelectric technique.J Chem Phys2024;160:111101

[10] Zai H,Chen Q.Ion migration in halide perovskite solar cells: mechanism, characterization, impact and suppression.J Energy Chem2021;63:528-49

[11] Zhao Y,Han Z,Zhao Q.Effects of ion migration and improvement strategies for the operational stability of perovskite solar cells.Phys Chem Chem Phys2021;23:94-106

[12] Liu J,Dai Z,Padture NP.Correlations between electrochemical ion migration and anomalous device behaviors in perovskite solar cells.ACS Energy Lett2021;6:1003-14

[13] Hossain MI,Shetty A.Probing the degradation pathways in perovskite solar cells.Solar Energy2023;265:112128

[14] Mathew P,Kamat PV.Ramifications of ion migration in 2D lead halide perovskites.ACS Energy Lett2024;9:1103-14

[15] Huang Z,Tan H.Suppressed ion migration in reduced-dimensional perovskites improves operating stability.ACS Energy Lett2019;4:1521-7

[16] Grancini G.Dimensional tailoring of hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics.Nat Rev Mater2019;4:4-22

[17] Zhao X,Loo YL.Advancing 2D perovskites for efficient and stable solar cells: challenges and opportunities.Adv Mater2022;34:e2105849

[18] Ortiz-Cervantes C,Solis-Ibarra D.Two-dimensional halide perovskites in solar cells: 2D or not 2D?.ChemSusChem2019;12:1560-75

[19] Ma K,Atapattu HR.Holistic energy landscape management in 2D/3D heterojunction via molecular engineering for efficient perovskite solar cells.Sci Adv2023;9:eadg0032 PMCID:PMC10246895

[20] Zouhair S,Valitova I,Jailani JM.Carbon electrodes for perovskite photovoltaics: interfacial properties, meta-analysis, and prospects.Solar RRL2024;8:2300929

[21] Besleaga C,Stancu V.Iodine migration and degradation of perovskite solar cells enhanced by metallic electrodes.J Phys Chem Lett2016;7:5168-75

[22] Domanski K,Mine N.Not all that glitters is gold: metal-migration-induced degradation in perovskite solar cells.ACS Nano2016;10:6306-14

[23] Parashar M,Saini DK.Probing elemental diffusion and radiation tolerance of perovskite solar cells via non-destructive Rutherford backscattering spectrometry.APL Energy2024;2:016109

[24] Kerner RA,Xu Z.Electrochemical doping of halide perovskites by noble metal interstitial cations.Adv Mater2023;35:e2302206

[25] Sun X,Ding C.Fabrication of opaque aluminum electrode-based perovskite solar cells enabled by the interface optimization.Org Electron2022;104:106475

[26] Svanström S,Jacobsson TJ.The complex degradation mechanism of copper electrodes on lead halide perovskites.ACS Mater Au2022;2:301-12 PMCID:PMC9100662

[27] Chen H.Stabilizing and scaling up carbon-based perovskite solar cells.J Mater Res2017;32:3011-20

[28] Hadadian M,Correa-baena J.The role of carbon-based materials in enhancing the stability of perovskite solar cells.Energy Environ Sci2020;13:1377-407

[29] Baghestani E,Saki Z.A conductive adhesive ink for carbon-laminated perovskite solar cells with enhanced stability and high efficiency.Solar Energy2023;266:112165

[30] Zhu A,Zhang A.Playdough-like carbon electrode: a promising strategy for high efficiency perovskite solar cells and modules.eScience2024;4:100221

[31] Jeon I,Sato Y.Perovskite solar cells using carbon nanotubes both as cathode and as anode.J Phys Chem C2017;121:25743-9

[32] Zhang J,Ji K.High-performance bifacial perovskite solar cells enabled by single-walled carbon nanotubes.Nat Commun2024;15:2245 PMCID:PMC10933432

[33] Zhang C,Zhang H.Efficient stable graphene-based perovskite solar cells with high flexibility in device assembling via modular architecture design.Energy Environ Sci2019;12:3585-94

[34] Gan Y,Guo P.Advances in the research of carbon electrodes for perovskite solar cells.Dalton Trans2023;52:16558-77

[35] Pandey S,Bhardwaj D.Recent advances in carbon-based materials for high-performance perovskite solar cells: gaps, challenges and fulfillment.Nanoscale Adv2023;5:1492-526 PMCID:PMC10012878

[36] Fagiolari L.Carbon-based materials for stable, cheaper and large-scale processable perovskite solar cells.Energy Environ Sci2019;12:3437-72

[37] Yu Y,Yang Y.Critical assessment of carbon pastes for carbon electrode-based perovskite solar cells.Carbon2023;205:270-93

[38] Nguyen H,Mahaffey M.All inorganic CsPbI₃ perovskite solar cells with reduced mobile ion concentration and film stress.MRS Commun2024;14:208-14

[39] Xu J,Yu ZJ.Triple-halide wide-band gap perovskites with suppressed phase segregation for efficient tandems.Science2020;367:1097-104

[40] Vijayaraghavan SN,Xiang W.Carbon electrode with sputtered Au coating for efficient and stable perovskite solar cells.ACS Appl Mater Interfaces2023;15:15290-7

[41] Zhang H,Shi J.Self-adhesive macroporous carbon electrodes for efficient and stable perovskite solar cells.Adv Funct Mater2018;28:1802985

[42] Li M,Gil-escrig L.Strategies to improve the mechanical robustness of metal halide perovskite solar cells.Energy Adv2024;3:273-80

[43] Han B,Cai B.Green perovskite light-emitting diodes with 200 hours stability and 16% efficiency: cross-linking strategy and mechanism.Adv Funct Mater2021;31:2011003

[44] Morales-aragonés JI,Gallardo-saavedra S.Online distributed measurement of dark I-V curves in photovoltaic plants.Appl Sci2021;11:1924

[45] Liu R,Xu M,Yu H.Layered low-dimensional ruddlesden-popper and dion-jacobson perovskites: from material properties to photovoltaic device performance.ChemSusChem2023;16:e202300736

[46] Ahmad S,Yu S.Dion-jacobson phase 2D layered perovskites for solar cells with ultrahigh stability.Joule2019;3:794-806

[47] Chen K,Liu J.Record-efficiency printable hole-conductor-free mesoscopic perovskite solar cells enabled by the multifunctional schiff base derivative.Adv Mater2024;36:2401319