Tilted-octahedra stabilize FA rich halide perovskites
Tiarnan Doherty a b c, Satyawan Nagane c, Dominik Kubicki c e, Young-Kwang Jung f, Duncan Johnstone b, Affan Iqbal a c, Dengyang Guo a c, Kyle Frohna c, Mohsen Danaie i, Elizabeth Tennyson c, Stuart Macpherson c, Anna Abfalterer c, Miguel Anaya a c, Yu-Hsien Chiang c, Phillip Crout b, Francesco Simone Ruggeri g, Sean Collins h, Clare Grey e, Aron Walsh d f, Paul Midgley b, Samuel Stranks a c
a Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge; Cambridge, UK
b Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge; Cambridge, UK
c Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge; Cambridge, UK
d Department of Materials, Imperial College London; London, UK
e Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge; Lensfield Road, Cambridge, UK
f Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University; Seoul, Korea
g Laboratory of Organic and Physical Chemistry, Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands
h School of Chemical and Process Engineering & School of Chemistry, University of Leeds; Leeds, UK
i Electron Physical Science Imaging Centre, Diamond Light Source Ltd; Didcot, UK
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV22)
València, Spain, 2022 May 19th - 25th
Organizers: Pablo Docampo, Eva Unger and Elizabeth Gibson
Oral, Tiarnan Doherty, presentation 056
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.hopv.2022.056
Publication date: 20th April 2022

Halide perovskite materials exhibit promising performance characteristics for low-cost optoelectronic applications. Photovoltaic devices fabricated from perovskite absorbers have reached power conversion efficiencies above 25.5 % in single-junction devices and 29.5% in tandem devices. Formamadinium (FA) lead iodide (FAPbI3) and FA-rich perovskites are preferred for photovoltaic applications, but their widespread adoption is hindered by the rapid degradation of the desirable corner-sharing cubic (3C) phase to an undesirable wide bandgap, face-sharing, hexagonal (2H) phase under ambient conditions. Alloying FA with small amounts of Cs+ and methylammonium (MA) on the A site cation of the ABX3 perovskite structure has proven a promising strategy for stabilizing photoactive perovskite phases. For example, photovoltaic devices fabricated with compositions such as Cs0.05FA0.78MA0.17Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3 (triple cation) perovskites have achieved high device efficiencies with greatly enhanced reproducibility and ambient stability[1]. Recently, there has also been renewed interest in methods to stabilize pure FAPbI3 through strategies such as the incorporation of MA via treatment with methylammonium thiocyanate vapour[2], addition of formamidinium formate[3] or methylammonium formate[4].

The mechanism of improved stability obtained from these approaches is generally explained as either originating from a tuning of the Goldschmidt tolerance factor towards the perfect cubic perovskite structure via cation mixing in the case of Triple Cation perovskites[1,5], by templating growth of the corner-sharing cubic structure in stabilized-FAPbI3 perovskites[2,4], or by reducing intrinsic defect density[3]. The key tenet in all these explanations is that the final photoactive perovskite material, regardless of stabilization approach, is a cubic perovskite structure and that this is the structure that should be pursued for optimal stability and performance. Here, we reveal that contrary to conventional wisdom, this is not the case. In this talk using scanning electron diffraction (SED) we reveal the nanoscale structural origins of improved material stability in FA-rich perovskites and stabilized thin films of α-FAPbI3, two of the most promising candidates for commercial PV applications[6]. Further, we will describe how these nanoscale stability mechanisms are related to our recent reports of performance limiting trap clusters in high-performing perovskite films[7]. Together, our talk will help answer questions such as “What are the nanoscale origins of instability in perovskite materials and devices?”, “how important is phase purity for performance?”

© FUNDACIO DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA SCITO
We use our own and third party cookies for analysing and measuring usage of our website to improve our services. If you continue browsing, we consider accepting its use. You can check our Cookies Policy in which you will also find how to configure your web browser for the use of cookies. More info