Enhanced charge carrier mobility and lifetime suppress hysteresis and improve efficiency in planar perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are very promising lab-scale technologies to deliver inexpensive solar electricity. Low-temperature, planar PSCs are of particularly interest for large-scale deployment due to their inherent suitability for flexible substrates and potential for silicon/perovskite tandems. So far, planar PSCs have been prone to large current-voltage hysteresis and low stabilized power output due to a number of issues associated with this kind of device configuration. We find that the suppression of the yellow-phase impurity (∂-FAPbI3) present in formamidium-based perovskites, by RbI addition, contributes to low hysteresis, higher charge carrier mobility, long-lived carrier lifetimes and a champion stabilized power output of 20.3% using SnOx as the electron selective contact. We study the effects of these impurities on the transient behavior that defines hysteresis and its relation to ionic movement. In addition, we find that the formation of a RbPbI3 phase does not significantly affect the charge carrier lifetimes and consequently the performance of the devices. This brings new physical insights onto the role of different impurities in perovskite solar cells, which make these materials so remarkable.
US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (award no. DE-SC0001088)