Observation of Nanoscale Morphological and Structural Degradation in Perovskite Solar Cells by In-Situ TEM

Yang, Bin; Dyck, Ondrej K.; Ming, Wenmei; Du, Mao-Hua; Das, Sanjib; Rouleau, Christopher M.; Duscher, Gerd; Geohegan, David B.; Xiao, Kai

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b11341

Title: Observation of Nanoscale Morphological and Structural Degradation in Perovskite Solar Cells by In-Situ TEM

Journal Article · Fri Nov 04 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b11341· OSTI ID:1340439

Yang, Bin ^[1]; Dyck, Ondrej K. ^[1]; Ming, Wenmei ^[1]; Du, Mao-Hua ^[1]; Das, Sanjib ^[2]; Rouleau, Christopher M. ^[1]; Duscher, Gerd ^[2]; Geohegan, David B. ^[1]; Xiao, Kai ^[1]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

The chemical stability of organometallic halide perovskites is a major barrier facing their application in the fast rising field of next generation photovoltaics. These materials were shown to undergo degradation due to the influence of heat or moisture, significantly limiting the lifetime of associated devices. To overcome this stability issue, a fundamental understanding of degradation mechanisms is of foremost importance. Here, high resolution in situ transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy elemental mapping were applied to probe morphological and structural changes in perovskite films during controlled environmental exposure treatments. Both moisture and oxygen in ambient air are revealed to facilitate degradation in CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskites through decomposition and oxidation pathways, respectively. In addition, even in moisture- and oxygen-free environment evident degradation could be induced by heating at the solar cell s real-field operating temperature and the degradation was found to originate from defect sites. These findings provide fundamental insight to prevent degradation of perovskite materials and associated devices for realistic applications.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1340439

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 47; ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 43 works

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