Publication date: 14th September 2021
The distribution of trap states in the active layer of perovskite solar cells is a key limiting factor that largely controls the charge carrier mobility, rate of recombination of trapped charges, and subsequently, the power conversion efficiency. In the present study, the charge carrier dynamics and the influences of the energetic distribution of trap states over device performance of nickel oxide based inverted perovskite solar cells have been investigated in detail by analysing their temperature dependent transient photo-responses. The reduction in temperature during electrical measurement has induced anomalous behaviour in current-voltage characteristics and distribution of trap states. The applied bias significantly influences the shape and location of the density of states distribution, indicating their ionic origin. The transient photovoltage measurement revealed that the devices show rapid recombination of localized photo generated charge carriers around the orthorhombic to the tetragonal phase transition region. The detailed study of trap state analysis and their various impacts on the device performances will prove beneficial for the fundamental understanding of the device physics, material design, and performance stabilization for perovskite solar cells and related devices.