Pulsatile therapy for perovskite solar cells

TL;DR

This paper introduces a pulsatile therapy technique that applies short reverse biases during operation to enhance the stability and lifetime of perovskite solar cells by preventing and repairing defects.

Contribution

The study presents a novel in-operation pulsatile therapy method that significantly prolongs perovskite solar cell lifespan and maintains defect tolerance, advancing commercialization prospects.

Findings

Delayed irreversible degradation of solar cells

Restored degraded photocurrent during operation

Significant improvement in device lifetime and power output

Abstract

The current utmost challenge for commercialization of perovskite solar cells is to ensure long-term operation stability. Here, we developed the pulsatile therapy which can prolong device lifetime by addressing accumulation of both charges and ions in the middle of maximum power point tracking (MPPT). In the technique, reverse biases are repeatedly applied for a very short time without any pause of operation, leading to stabilization of the working device. The observed efficacies of our pulsatile therapy are delaying irreversible degradation as well as restoring degraded photocurrent during MPPT operation. We suggest an integrated mechanism underlying the therapy, in which harmful deep-level defects can be prevented to form and already formed defects can be cured by driving charge-state transition. We demonstrated the therapy to maintain defect-tolerance continuously, leading to outstanding improvement of lifetime and harvesting power. The unique technique will open up new possibility to commercialize perovskite materials into a real market.