General Decomposition Pathway of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskites through an Intermediate Superstructure and its Suppression Mechanism

Shulin Chen; Ying Zhang; Xiaowei Zhang; Jinjin Zhao; Zewen Zhao; Xiao Su; Ze Hua; Jingmin Zhang; Jian Cao; Jicai Feng; Xiao Wang; Xinzheng Li; Junlei Qi; Jiangyu Li; Peng Gao

doi:10.1002/adma.202001107

General Decomposition Pathway of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskites through an Intermediate Superstructure and its Suppression Mechanism

Adv Mater. 2020 Jul;32(29):e2001107. doi: 10.1002/adma.202001107. Epub 2020 May 17.

Authors

Shulin Chen^{1

2}, Ying Zhang³, Xiaowei Zhang⁴, Jinjin Zhao³, Zewen Zhao³, Xiao Su³, Ze Hua², Jingmin Zhang², Jian Cao¹, Jicai Feng¹, Xiao Wang⁵, Xinzheng Li⁶, Junlei Qi¹, Jiangyu Li⁵, Peng Gao^{2

4

6}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China.
² Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang, 050043, China.
⁴ International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁵ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Nanobiomechanics, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁶ Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China.

PMID: 32419179
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202001107

Abstract

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) have generated considerable excitement due to their promising photovoltaic performance. However, the commercialization of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is still plagued by the structural degradation of the OIHPs. Here, the decomposition mechanism of OIHPs under electron beam irradiation is investigated via transmission electron microscopy, and a general decomposition pathway for both tetragonal CH₃ NH₃ PbI₃ and cubic CH₃ NH₃ PbBr₃ is uncovered through an intermediate superstructure state of CH₃ NH₃ PbX_2.5 , X = I, Br, with ordered vacancies into final lead halides. Such decomposition can be suppressed via carbon coating by stabilization of the perovskite structure framework. These findings reveal the general degradation pathway of OIHPs and suggest an effective strategy to suppress it, and the atomistic insight learnt may be useful for improving the stability of PSCs.

Keywords: coatings; decomposition pathways; intermediate superstructures; organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites; suppression of degradation.

Abstract

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