Planar perovskite solar cells with long-term stability using ionic liquid additives

Solar cells based on metal halide perovskites are one of the most promising photovoltaic technologies(1-4). Over the past few years, the long-term operational stability of such devices has been greatly improved by tuning the composition of the perovskites(5-9), optimizing the interfaces within the device structures(10-13), and using new encapsulation techniques(14,15). However, further improvements are required in order to deliver a longer-lasting technology. Ion migration in the perovskite active layer-especially under illumination and heat-is arguably the most difficult aspect to mitigate(16-18). Here we incorporate ionic liquids into the perovskite film and thence into positive-intrinsic-negative photovoltaic devices, increasing the device efficiency and markedly improving the long-term device stability. Specifically, we observe a degradation in performance of only around five per cent for the most stable encapsulated device under continuous simulated full-spectrum sunlight for more than 1,800 hours at 70 to 75 degrees Celsius, and estimate that the time required for the device to drop to eighty per cent of its peak performance is about 5,200 hours. Our demonstration of long-term operational, stable solar cells under intense conditions is a key step towards a reliable perovskite photovoltaic technology.Funding Agencies|UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [EP/M015254/2, EP/M024881/1]; European Research Council (ERC) [717026]; Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsradet [330-2014-6433]; European Commission Marie Sklodowska-Curie action [INCA 600398]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [SFO-Mat-LiU 2009-00971]; European Union [763977]; China Scholarship Council (CSC); Bavarian State Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts; German Research Foundation (DFG); Swiss National Science Foundation [cr23i2-162828]