Emergence of Hysteresis and Transient Ferroelectric Response in Organo-Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells

Although there has been rapid progress in the efficiency of perovskite-based solar cells, hysteresis in the current-voltage performance is not yet completely understood. Owing to its complex structure, it is not easy to attribute the hysteretic behavior to any one of different components, such as the bulk of the perovskite or different heterojunction interfaces. Among organo-lead halide perovskites, methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) is known to have a ferroelectric property. The present investigation reveals a strong correlation between transient ferroelectric polarization of CH3NH3PbI3 induced by an external bias in the dark and hysteresis enhancement in photovoltaic characteristics. Our results demonstrate that the reverse bias poling (-0.3 to -1.1 V) of CH3NH3PbI3 photovoltaic layers prior to the photocurrent-voltage measurement generates stronger hysteresis whose extent changes significantly by the cell architecture. The phenomenon is interpreted as the effect of remanent polarization in the perovskite film on the photocurrent, which is most enhanced in planar perovskite structures without mesoporous scaffolds.