Engineering Stress in Perovskite Solar Cells to Improve Stability

Rolston, Nicholas; Bush, Kevin A.; Printz, Adam D.; Gold-Parker, Aryeh; Ding, Yichuan; Toney, Michael F.; McGehee, Michael D.; Dauskardt, Reinhold H.

doi:10.1002/aenm.201802139

Engineering Stress in Perovskite Solar Cells to Improve Stability

Journal Article · Mon Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201802139· OSTI ID:1579795

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Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Stanford university
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

We report on an overlooked factor affecting stability: the residual stresses in perovskite films, which are tensile and can exceed 50 MPa in magnitude, a value high enough to deform copper. These stresses provide a significant driving force for fracture. Films are demonstrated to be more unstable under tensile stress—and conversely more stable under compressive stress— when exposed to heat or humidity. Increasing the formation temperature of perovskite films directly correlates with larger residual stresses, a result of the high thermal expansion coefficient of perovskites. Specifically, this tensile stress forms upon cooling to room temperature, as the substrate constrains the perovskite from shrinking. No evidence of stress relaxation is observed, with the purely elastic film stress attributed to the thermal expansion mismatch between the perovskite and substrate. Additionally, the authors demonstrate that using a bath conversion method to form the perovskite film at room temperature leads to low stress values that are unaffected by further annealing, indicating complete perovskite formation prior to annealing. It is concluded that reducing the film stress is a novel approach for improving perovskite stability, which can be accomplished by lower formation temperatures, flexible substrates with high thermal expansion coefficients, and externally applied compressive stress after fabrication.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; EE0004946; EE0008154; EE0008167

OSTI ID:: 1579795

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1686152
OSTI ID: 1469240

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Issue: 29 Vol. 8; ISSN 1614-6832

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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