Stability-limiting heterointerfaces of perovskite photovoltaics

Shaun Tan; Tianyi Huang; Ilhan Yavuz; Rui Wang; Tae Woong Yoon; Mingjie Xu; Qiyu Xing; Keonwoo Park; Do-Kyoung Lee; Chung-Hao Chen; Ran Zheng; Taegeun Yoon; Yepin Zhao; Hao-Cheng Wang; Dong Meng; Jingjing Xue; Young Jae Song; Xiaoqing Pan; Nam-Gyu Park; Jin-Wook Lee; Yang Yang

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04604-5

Stability-limiting heterointerfaces of perovskite photovoltaics

Nature. 2022 May;605(7909):268-273. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04604-5. Epub 2022 Mar 15.

Authors

Shaun Tan^#¹, Tianyi Huang^#¹, Ilhan Yavuz^#², Rui Wang^{3

4}, Tae Woong Yoon⁵, Mingjie Xu⁶, Qiyu Xing¹, Keonwoo Park⁵, Do-Kyoung Lee⁷, Chung-Hao Chen^{1

8}, Ran Zheng¹, Taegeun Yoon⁵, Yepin Zhao¹, Hao-Cheng Wang^{1

8}, Dong Meng¹, Jingjing Xue¹, Young Jae Song^{5

9}, Xiaoqing Pan^{6

10}, Nam-Gyu Park^{7

11}, Jin-Wook Lee^{12

13}, Yang Yang¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Department of Physics, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. wangrui@westlake.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Engineering, Westlake University and Institute of Advanced Technology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, Hangzhou, China. wangrui@westlake.edu.cn.
⁵ SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT) and Department of Nanoengineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Irvine Materials Research Institute, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
⁷ School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
⁸ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
⁹ Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹⁰ Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
¹¹ SKKU Institute of Energy Science & Technology (SIEST), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹² SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT) and Department of Nanoengineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea. jw.lee@skku.edu.
¹³ SKKU Institute of Energy Science & Technology (SIEST), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea. jw.lee@skku.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. yangy@ucla.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 35292753
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04604-5

Abstract

Optoelectronic devices consist of heterointerfaces formed between dissimilar semiconducting materials. The relative energy-level alignment between contacting semiconductors determinately affects the heterointerface charge injection and extraction dynamics. For perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the heterointerface between the top perovskite surface and a charge-transporting material is often treated for defect passivation^1-4 to improve the PSC stability and performance. However, such surface treatments can also affect the heterointerface energetics¹. Here we show that surface treatments may induce a negative work function shift (that is, more n-type), which activates halide migration to aggravate PSC instability. Therefore, despite the beneficial effects of surface passivation, this detrimental side effect limits the maximum stability improvement attainable for PSCs treated in this way. This trade-off between the beneficial and detrimental effects should guide further work on improving PSC stability via surface treatments.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't