Discerning chemical and operational stability in perovskite solar cells

Researcher: 
Juarez-Perez , Emilio J.
Congress: 
XXXVIII Reunión Bienal de la Sociedad Española de Química,
Participation type: 
Comunicación oral
Year: 
2022
Location: 
Granada (Spain)

Discerning chemical and operational stability in perovskite solar cells
Emilio J. Juarez-Perez
Senior researcher - ARAID Foundation
Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA)
CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50009 (Spain).
Nanostructured Films & Particles Research Group (NFP.unizar.es)
Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Tecnologías del Medio Ambiente
Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Mariano Esquillor s/n, Zaragoza 50018 (Spain)
E-mail: ejjuarezperez@unizar.es
Keywords: Renewable Energy, Perovskite Solar Cells
Hybrid lead halide based perovskites have emerged as promising active materials for
photovoltaic cells. Over the past decade, enormous efforts have been devoted to device
fabrication and optimization leading to power conversion efficiencies exceeding 25%, which
gives perovskite solar cells the competitive advantage over many other well-known solar
photovoltaic technologies. Despite superb efficiencies achieved in laboratory-scale devices, it
was soon recognized that long-term stability of this material was rapidly compromised under
ambient conditions and such instability could jeopardize the commercial prospects of perovskite
solar cells [1].
In this communication, current strategies to overcome the long-term instability problem
are outlined including discussion between the thin line separating 1) photo- and thermal
degradation processes [2-5], 2) true chemical decomposition reactions versus evaporation-like
processes [6], 3) the halide effect on stability in terms of energy barriers during degradation
reactions [7] and 4) clear distinction between intrinsic stability of the active material and the
expected operational stability of the device. In summary, a balanced assessment of this
multifaceted problem to give us a positive perspective for the commercial future of this
technology.
References
[1] E. J Juarez-Perez, M. Haro. Perovskite solar cells take a step forward. Science, 2020, 368,
1309-1309.
[2] E. J. Juarez-Perez; L. K. Ono, Y. Qi. Thermal degradation of formamidinium based lead
halide perovskites into sym-triazine and hydrogen cyanide observed by coupled
thermogravimetry - mass spectrometry analysis J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 16912-16919.
[3] E. J. Juarez-Perez. Comment on “Probing the Origins of Photodegradation in Organic
Inorganic Metal Halide Perovskites with Time-Resolved Mass Spectrometry”, Sustainable
Energy & Fuels, 2018. Updated response (March 14, 2019) ChemRxiv, 2019
10.26434/chemrxiv.7295585
[4] E. J. Juarez-Perez; L. K. Ono; M. Maeda; Y. Jiang; Z. Hawash & Y. Qi Photodecomposition
and thermal decomposition in methylammonium halide lead perovskites and inferred design
principles to increase photovoltaic device stability J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 9604-9612.
[5] E. J. Juarez-Perez; Z. Hawash; S. R. Raga; L. K. Ono & Y. Qi Thermal degradation of
CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite into NH3 and CH3I gases observed by coupled thermogravimetry -
mass spectrometry analysis Energy Environ. Sci., 2016, 9, 3406-3410.
[6] E. J. Juarez-Perez; L. K. Ono; I. Uriarte; E. J. Cocinero, Y. Qi. Degradation Mechanism and
Relative Stability of Methylammonium Halide Based Perovskites Analyzed on the Basis of Acid-
Base Theory ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2019, 11, 12586-12593.
[7] A. García-Fernández; E. J. Juarez-Perez; S. Castro-García; M. Sánchez-Andújar; L. K. Ono;
Y. Jiang & Y. Qi Benchmarking chemical stability of arbitrarily mixed 3D hybrid halide
perovskites for solar cell applications. Small Methods, 2018, 0, 1800242.