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Title: Methylammonium lead iodide grain boundaries exhibit depth-dependent electrical properties

Journal Article · · Energy & Environmental Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C6EE01889K · OSTI ID:1339245
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [1]
  1. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States). Material Measurement Lab., Applied Chemicals and Materials Division
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
  3. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States). Physical Measurement Lab., Applied Physics Division
  4. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). National Center for Photovoltaics
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In this paper, the nanoscale through-film and lateral photo-response and conductivity of large-grained methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) thin films are studied. In perovskite solar cells (PSC), these films result in efficiencies >17%. The grain boundaries (GBs) show high resistance at the top surface of the film, and act as an impediment to photocurrent collection. However, lower resistance pathways between grains exist below the top surface of the film, indicating that there exists a depth-dependent resistance of GBs (RGB(z)). Furthermore, lateral conductivity measurements indicate that RGB(z) exhibits GB-to-GB heterogeneity. These results indicate that increased photocurrent collection along GBs is not a prerequisite for high-efficiency PSCs. Rather, better control of depth-dependent GB electrical properties, and an improvement in the homogeneity of the GB-to-GB electrical properties, must be managed to enable further improvements in PSC efficiency. Finally, these results refute the implicit assumption seen in the literature that the electrical properties of GBs, as measured at the top surface of the perovskite film, necessarily reflect the electrical properties of GBs within the thickness of the film.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1339245
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5900-67690
Journal Information:
Energy & Environmental Science, Journal Name: Energy & Environmental Science Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 9; ISSN EESNBY; ISSN 1754-5692
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (15)

Defect Engineering toward Highly Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells journal July 2018
Interface Engineering in Tin Perovskite Solar Cells journal October 2019
Edge Effect on the Population of Free Carriers and Excitons in Single‐Crystal CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 Perovskite Nanomaterials journal May 2019
Capturing the Sun: A Review of the Challenges and Perspectives of Perovskite Solar Cells journal June 2017
Impact of Structural Dynamics on the Optical Properties of Methylammonium Lead Iodide Perovskites journal June 2017
Oriented Grains with Preferred Low-Angle Grain Boundaries in Halide Perovskite Films by Pressure-Induced Crystallization journal December 2017
Capturing the Sun: A Review of the Challenges and Perspectives of Perovskite Solar Cells journal January 2018
Imaging Metal Halide Perovskites Material and Properties at the Nanoscale journal December 2019
Perowskit-Solarzellen: atomare Ebene, Schichtqualität und Leistungsfähigkeit der Zellen journal February 2018
Perovskite Solar Cells: From the Atomic Level to Film Quality and Device Performance journal February 2018
Imaging material functionality through three-dimensional nanoscale tracking of energy flow journal October 2019
Identifying the charge generation dynamics in Cs + -based triple cation mixed perovskite solar cells journal January 2017
Approaching the Shockley–Queisser limit for fill factors in lead–tin mixed perovskite photovoltaics journal January 2020
Tin( iv ) dopant removal through anti-solvent engineering enabling tin based perovskite solar cells with high charge carrier mobilities journal January 2019
Tin(iv) dopant removal through anti-solvent engineering enabling tin based perovskite solar cells with high charge carrier mobilities text January 2019

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
methylammonium lead iodide thin films
nanoscale