Proceedings of Asia-Pacific Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics&Optoelectronics (IPEROP25)
Publication date: 17th October 2024
Perovskite solar cells have emerged as a cutting-edge research field in the realm of new-generation photovoltaic technologies, owing to their remarkable performance potential and the promise of cost-effective production. As of 2024, these cells have achieved an impressive power conversion efficiency exceeding 26%, surpassing conventional solar cell technologies like CIGS or amorphous Si. To push their performance further beyond the Shockley–Queisser limit, which hovers around 30%, a deep understanding of the physical chemistry rooted in crystallography becomes imperative.
Here in this research, we directly confirmed that specific grain boundaries in organometal halide perovskites impede charge carrier flow. To address this, we introduced a new fabrication technique: rapid cooling (quenching) of the crystallographic phase of the organometal halide perovskite, which effectively minimizes microscale defects such as grain boundaries. To further investigate the details and impact of grain boundaries in organometal halide perovskites, we performed TEM and in situ current density−voltage (J−V) analyses. These analyses revealed that a significant physical gap, originating from the grain boundaries of MAPbI3 perovskite, severely obstructs charge carrier flow. As a result, we achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.23% with a single-cation MAPbI3 PSC. The restricted crystallographic transition was demonstrated through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses.