Ion Movement Explains Huge VOC Increase despite Almost Unchanged Internal Quasi-Fermi-Level Splitting in Planar Perovskite Solar Cells

Light soaking under 1 sun is performed on planar p-i-n perovskite solar cells with a Cs(0.05)MA(0.10)FA(0.85)Pb(I0.95Br0.05)(3) absorber while measuring current and voltage transients simultaneously to spectral photoluminescence (PL). From theory a tenfold increase in PL intensity is expected for every 60 mV rise in V-OC (at 300 K). However, the solar cells investigated show a reversible V-OC increase from as low as 0.5 up to 1.05 V during light soaking, whereas the PL intensity hardly changes. A model is developed based on mobile ions in combination with a nonideal contact. It reproduces the decoupling of the V-OC and PL as well as the transient behavior in great detail. Using state-of-the-art materials and passivation layers shows that light soaking is still a relevant feature of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. The ionic liquid additive 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate slows down the light-soaking behavior, giving an example of how ionic motion in perovskite solar cells can be influenced.

Automated summary

Light soaking of planar p-i-n perovskite solar cells with a Cs(0.05)MA(0.10)FA(0.85)Pb(I0.95Br0.05)(3) absorber showed a discrepancy between changes in V-OC and PL, with a developed model explaining this phenomenon. The study indicates that light soaking remains a relevant feature of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells.