Degradation mechanism of hybrid tin-based perovskite solar cells and the critical role of tin (IV) iodide

Luis Lanzetta; Thomas Webb; Nourdine Zibouche; Xinxing Liang; Dong Ding; Ganghong Min; Robert J.E. Westbrook; Benedetta Gaggio; Thomas J. Macdonald; M. Saiful Islam; Saif A. Haque

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-22864-z

Degradation mechanism of hybrid tin-based perovskite solar cells and the critical role of tin (IV) iodide

Luis Lanzetta, Thomas Webb, Nourdine Zibouche, Xinxing Liang, Dong Ding, Ganghong Min, Robert J.E. Westbrook, Benedetta Gaggio, Thomas J. Macdonald, M. Saiful Islam, Saif A. Haque

Imperial College London

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

266 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Tin perovskites have emerged as promising alternatives to toxic lead perovskites in next-generation photovoltaics, but their poor environmental stability remains an obstacle towards more competitive performances. Therefore, a full understanding of their decomposition processes is needed to address these stability issues. Herein, we elucidate the degradation mechanism of 2D/3D tin perovskite films based on (PEA)_0.2(FA)_0.8SnI₃ (where PEA is phenylethylammonium and FA is formamidinium). We show that SnI₄, a product of the oxygen-induced degradation of tin perovskite, quickly evolves into iodine via the combined action of moisture and oxygen. We identify iodine as a highly aggressive species that can further oxidise the perovskite to more SnI₄, establishing a cyclic degradation mechanism. Perovskite stability is then observed to strongly depend on the hole transport layer chosen as the substrate, which is exploited to tackle film degradation. These key insights will enable the future design and optimisation of stable tin-based perovskite optoelectronics.

Original language	English
Article number	2853
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
Issue number	1
Early online date	14 May 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22864-z
Publication status	Published - 31 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
S.A.H. acknowledges support from EPSRC (grant numbers EP/R020574/1, EP/R023581/ 1 and EP/P032591/1). L.L. was supported by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Plastic Electronics (grant number EP/L016702/1). M.S.I. and N.Z. gratefully acknowledge the EPSRC Grant “Towards Self-scrubbing Stable and Scalable Perovskite Solar Cells” (EP/R020485/1). For supercomputer resources, we thank the MCC/Archer consortium (EP/L000202/1) and Isambard UK National Tier-2 HPC Service operated by GW4 and the UK Met Office and funded by EPSRC (EP/P020224/1).

Funding Information:
S.A.H. designed and supervised the experimental project. M.S.I. and N.Z. designed and performed the computational work. L.L. designed experiments, performed sample preparation, spectroscopy and XRD measurements, solar cell fabrication and characterisation, TGA and took photographs of the experimental setup. T.W. carried out sample preparation, spectroscopy measurements, solar cell fabrication and characterisation, TGA and took photographs of the experimental setup. X.L. conducted sample preparation, spectroscopy and XRD measurements and solar cell fabrication and characterisation. D.D. contributed to solar cell fabrication. G.M. performed sample preparation, optical spectroscopy and microscopy measurements and took photographs of the experimental setup. R.J.E.W. contributed to optical spectroscopy measurements and analysis. B.G. provided assistance in optical degradation measurements. T.J.M. conducted solar cell fabrication and characterisation, sample preparation and spectroscopy measurements. T.J.M would like to thank the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 for their financial support through an 1851 Research Fellowship. L.L., S.A.H., N. Z. and M.S.I. drafted the initial version of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the analysis, discussion and preparation of the final version of the paper.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1038/s41467-021-22864-zLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Degradation mechanism of hybrid tin-based perovskite solar cells and the critical role of tin (IV) iodide",

abstract = "Tin perovskites have emerged as promising alternatives to toxic lead perovskites in next-generation photovoltaics, but their poor environmental stability remains an obstacle towards more competitive performances. Therefore, a full understanding of their decomposition processes is needed to address these stability issues. Herein, we elucidate the degradation mechanism of 2D/3D tin perovskite films based on (PEA)0.2(FA)0.8SnI3 (where PEA is phenylethylammonium and FA is formamidinium). We show that SnI4, a product of the oxygen-induced degradation of tin perovskite, quickly evolves into iodine via the combined action of moisture and oxygen. We identify iodine as a highly aggressive species that can further oxidise the perovskite to more SnI4, establishing a cyclic degradation mechanism. Perovskite stability is then observed to strongly depend on the hole transport layer chosen as the substrate, which is exploited to tackle film degradation. These key insights will enable the future design and optimisation of stable tin-based perovskite optoelectronics.",

author = "Luis Lanzetta and Thomas Webb and Nourdine Zibouche and Xinxing Liang and Dong Ding and Ganghong Min and Westbrook, {Robert J.E.} and Benedetta Gaggio and Macdonald, {Thomas J.} and Islam, {M. Saiful} and Haque, {Saif A.}",

note = "Funding Information: S.A.H. acknowledges support from EPSRC (grant numbers EP/R020574/1, EP/R023581/ 1 and EP/P032591/1). L.L. was supported by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Plastic Electronics (grant number EP/L016702/1). M.S.I. and N.Z. gratefully acknowledge the EPSRC Grant “Towards Self-scrubbing Stable and Scalable Perovskite Solar Cells” (EP/R020485/1). For supercomputer resources, we thank the MCC/Archer consortium (EP/L000202/1) and Isambard UK National Tier-2 HPC Service operated by GW4 and the UK Met Office and funded by EPSRC (EP/P020224/1). Funding Information: S.A.H. designed and supervised the experimental project. M.S.I. and N.Z. designed and performed the computational work. L.L. designed experiments, performed sample preparation, spectroscopy and XRD measurements, solar cell fabrication and characterisation, TGA and took photographs of the experimental setup. T.W. carried out sample preparation, spectroscopy measurements, solar cell fabrication and characterisation, TGA and took photographs of the experimental setup. X.L. conducted sample preparation, spectroscopy and XRD measurements and solar cell fabrication and characterisation. D.D. contributed to solar cell fabrication. G.M. performed sample preparation, optical spectroscopy and microscopy measurements and took photographs of the experimental setup. R.J.E.W. contributed to optical spectroscopy measurements and analysis. B.G. provided assistance in optical degradation measurements. T.J.M. conducted solar cell fabrication and characterisation, sample preparation and spectroscopy measurements. T.J.M would like to thank the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 for their financial support through an 1851 Research Fellowship. L.L., S.A.H., N. Z. and M.S.I. drafted the initial version of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the analysis, discussion and preparation of the final version of the paper. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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AU - Lanzetta, Luis

AU - Webb, Thomas

AU - Zibouche, Nourdine

AU - Liang, Xinxing

AU - Ding, Dong

AU - Min, Ganghong

AU - Westbrook, Robert J.E.

AU - Gaggio, Benedetta

AU - Macdonald, Thomas J.

AU - Islam, M. Saiful

AU - Haque, Saif A.

N1 - Funding Information: S.A.H. acknowledges support from EPSRC (grant numbers EP/R020574/1, EP/R023581/ 1 and EP/P032591/1). L.L. was supported by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Plastic Electronics (grant number EP/L016702/1). M.S.I. and N.Z. gratefully acknowledge the EPSRC Grant “Towards Self-scrubbing Stable and Scalable Perovskite Solar Cells” (EP/R020485/1). For supercomputer resources, we thank the MCC/Archer consortium (EP/L000202/1) and Isambard UK National Tier-2 HPC Service operated by GW4 and the UK Met Office and funded by EPSRC (EP/P020224/1). Funding Information: S.A.H. designed and supervised the experimental project. M.S.I. and N.Z. designed and performed the computational work. L.L. designed experiments, performed sample preparation, spectroscopy and XRD measurements, solar cell fabrication and characterisation, TGA and took photographs of the experimental setup. T.W. carried out sample preparation, spectroscopy measurements, solar cell fabrication and characterisation, TGA and took photographs of the experimental setup. X.L. conducted sample preparation, spectroscopy and XRD measurements and solar cell fabrication and characterisation. D.D. contributed to solar cell fabrication. G.M. performed sample preparation, optical spectroscopy and microscopy measurements and took photographs of the experimental setup. R.J.E.W. contributed to optical spectroscopy measurements and analysis. B.G. provided assistance in optical degradation measurements. T.J.M. conducted solar cell fabrication and characterisation, sample preparation and spectroscopy measurements. T.J.M would like to thank the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 for their financial support through an 1851 Research Fellowship. L.L., S.A.H., N. Z. and M.S.I. drafted the initial version of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the analysis, discussion and preparation of the final version of the paper. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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N2 - Tin perovskites have emerged as promising alternatives to toxic lead perovskites in next-generation photovoltaics, but their poor environmental stability remains an obstacle towards more competitive performances. Therefore, a full understanding of their decomposition processes is needed to address these stability issues. Herein, we elucidate the degradation mechanism of 2D/3D tin perovskite films based on (PEA)0.2(FA)0.8SnI3 (where PEA is phenylethylammonium and FA is formamidinium). We show that SnI4, a product of the oxygen-induced degradation of tin perovskite, quickly evolves into iodine via the combined action of moisture and oxygen. We identify iodine as a highly aggressive species that can further oxidise the perovskite to more SnI4, establishing a cyclic degradation mechanism. Perovskite stability is then observed to strongly depend on the hole transport layer chosen as the substrate, which is exploited to tackle film degradation. These key insights will enable the future design and optimisation of stable tin-based perovskite optoelectronics.

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Degradation mechanism of hybrid tin-based perovskite solar cells and the critical role of tin (IV) iodide

Abstract

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Stable, scalable and eco-friendly perovskite solar cells

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Degradation mechanism of hybrid tin-based perovskite solar cells and the critical role of tin (IV) iodide

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Stable, scalable and eco-friendly perovskite solar cells

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