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Title: Controlling Thin-Film Stress and Wrinkling during Perovskite Film Formation

Journal Article · · ACS Energy Letters

Significant effort has focused on controlling the deposition of perovskite films to enable uniform films, enabling efficiencies to climb dramatically. However, little attention has been paid to the evolution of thin-film stresses during deposition and the consequent effect on film morphology. While a textured surface topology has potential benefits for light scattering, a smooth surface is desirable to enable the pinhole-free deposition of contact layers. In this paper, we show that the highly textured morphology made by popular antisolvent conversion methods arises because of in-plane compressive stress experienced during the intermediate phase of film formation where the substrate constrains the film from expanding—leading to energy release in the form of wrinkling, resulting in trenches that can be hundreds of nanometers deep with periods of several micrometers. Finally, we demonstrate that the extent of wrinkling is correlated with the rate of film conversion and that ultrasmooth films are obtained by slowing the rate of film formation.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0008167; AC02-76SF00515; EE0008154; EE0004946; DGE-1656518; ECCS-1542152
OSTI ID:
1693766
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1469597
Journal Information:
ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 6; ISSN 2380-8195
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 122 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (20)

Modifying morphology and defects of low-dimensional, semi-transparent perovskite thin films via solvent type journal January 2019
Unveiling the Nanoparticle‐Seeded Catalytic Nucleation Kinetics of Perovskite Solar Cells by Time‐Resolved GIXS journal July 2019
Crystallization kinetics of rapid spray plasma processed multiple cation perovskites in open air journal January 2020
The Thermomechanical Properties of Thermally Evaporated Bismuth Triiodide Thin Films journal August 2019
Balanced strain-dependent carrier dynamics in flexible organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites journal January 2020
Engineering Stress in Perovskite Solar Cells to Improve Stability journal September 2018
Conjugated polymers and composites for stretchable organic electronics journal January 2019
Engineering Multiphase Metal Halide Perovskites Thin Films for Stable and Efficient Solar Cells text January 2020
Strain engineering in perovskite solar cells and its impacts on carrier dynamics journal February 2019
The Rise of Textured Perovskite Morphology: Revolutionizing the Pathway toward High‐Performance Optoelectronic Devices journal January 2020
Synergistic Effect of Elevated Device Temperature and Excess Charge Carriers on the Rapid Light‐Induced Degradation of Perovskite Solar Cells journal July 2019
Interfacial Residual Stress Relaxation in Perovskite Solar Cells with Improved Stability journal October 2019
Heterogeneity at multiple length scales in halide perovskite semiconductors journal July 2019
Surface Instability of Composite Thin Films on Compliant Substrates: Direct Simulation Approach journal September 2019
Acetic Acid Assisted Crystallization Strategy for High Efficiency and Long‐Term Stable Perovskite Solar Cell journal January 2020
Engineering Multiphase Metal Halide Perovskites Thin Films for Stable and Efficient Solar Cells journal January 2020
Synergistic Effect of Elevated Device Temperature and Excess Charge Carriers on the Rapid Light-Induced Degradation of Perovskite Solar Cells text January 2019
Heterogeneity at multiple length scales in halide perovskite semiconductors text January 2019
Growth modes and quantum confinement in ultrathin vapour-deposited MAPbI₃ films text January 2019
Instabilities of Thin Films on a Compliant Substrate: Direct Numerical Simulations from Surface Wrinkling to Global Buckling journal March 2020

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