Effect of Grain Size on the Fracture Behavior of Organic-Inorganic Halide Perovskite Thin Films for Solar Cells. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dai, Zhenghong; Yadavalli, Srinivas K.; Hu, Mingyu; Chen, Min; Zhou, Yuanyuan; Padture, Nitin P.
• Is Part Of: Scripta materialia. Number 185(2020)
• Page Start: 47
• Page End: 50
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: Halide perovskites -- Thin films -- Mechanical behavior -- Grain boundaries -- Solar cells; Materials -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Metalen; Legeringen; Materiaalkunde; Metals, metalworking and machinery industries; Metals; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2020.03.044
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6462

Abstract

Abstract: Organic-inorganic halide perovskite (OIHP) thin films at the heart of the new perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are very brittle, limiting the mechanical reliability of PSCs. Here we show that fine-grained MAPbI3 (prototypical OIHP) films with grain size (~290 nm) smaller than the typical film thickness (~500 nm) tend to fracture intergranularly, resulting in low toughness (0.41 J.m −2 ). In contrast, MAPbI3 /substrate interfacial fracture occurs in films with grains larger (~730 nm) than the film thickness, resulting in much higher toughness (1.14 J.m −2 ). Thus, coarse-grained OIHP films are deemed desirable for not only improved PSCs performance and stability but also mechanical reliability. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract