Abstract
The chemical stability of organometallic halide perovskites is a major barrier facing their application in the fast rising field of next generation photovoltaics. These materials were shown to undergo degradation due to the influence of heat or moisture, significantly limiting the lifetime of associated devices. To overcome this stability issue, a fundamental understanding of degradation mechanisms is of foremost importance. Here, high resolution in–situ transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy elemental mapping were applied to probe morphological and structural changes in perovskite films during controlled environmental exposure treatments. Both moisture and oxygen in ambient air are revealed to facilitate degradation in CH3NH3PbI3 perovskites through decomposition and oxidation pathways, respectively. In addition, even in moisture- and oxygen-free environment evident degradation could be induced by heating at the solar cell’s real-field operating temperature and the degradation was found to originate from defect sites. These findings provide fundamental insight to prevent degradation of perovskite materials and associated devices for realistic applications.
