Hysteresis, Stability, and Ion Migration in Lead Halide Perovskite Photovoltaics

Ion migration has been suspected as the origin of various irreproducible and unstable properties, most notably the hysteresis, of lead halide perovskite photovoltaic (PV) cells since the early stage of the research. Although many evidence of ionic movement have been presented both numerically and experimentally, a coherent and quantitative picture that accounts for the observed irreproducible phenomena is still lacking. At the same time, however, it has been noticed that in certain types of PV cells, the hysteresis is absent or at least within the measurement reproducibility. We have previously shown that the electronic properties of hysteresis-free cells are well represented in terms of the conventional inorganic semiconductors. The reproducibility of these measurements was confirmed typically within tens of minutes under the biasing field of -1 V to +1.5 V. In order to probe the effect of ionic motion in the hysteresis-free cells, we extended the time scale and the biasing rage in the electronic measurements, from which we conclude the following: (1) From various evidence, it appears that ion migration is inevitable. However, it does not cause detrimental effects to the PV operation. (2) We propose, based on the quantitative characterization, that the degradation is more likely due to the chemical change at the interfaces between the carrier selective layers and perovskite rather than the compositional change of the lead iodide perovskite bulk. Together, they give much hope in the use of the lead iodide perovskite in the use of actual application.