Article

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Potential of High-Stability Perovskite Solar Cells for Low-Intensity−

Low-Temperature (LILT) Outer Planetary Space Missions
C. R. Brown,† G. E. Eperon,‡,§,∥ V. R. Whiteside,† and I. R. Sellers*,†
†
Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, 440 W Brooks Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73019,
United States
‡
Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
§
Department of Chemistry, University of Washingtion, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
*
S Supporting Information
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ABSTRACT: Mixed-cation-based perovskite solar cells are inves-

tigated under conditions consistent with those found in orbit around
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Temperature dependent photoluminescence
spectra show no evidence of a phase change demonstrating the
stability of these systems. At low temperature, a barrier that impedes
current flow and reduces the fill factor is apparent in the operation of
the solar cell, particularly at 1 sun AM0. However, under low intensity
and low temperature, where thermionic emission limits the carrier
extraction, the fill factor and efficiency are recovered demonstrating
the promise of these systems for deep space missions.

KEYWORDS: perovskite, solar cell, mixed cation, phase transition, LILT, space, barrier

H alide perovskites have sprung to prominence in recent

years, mainly due to their rapidly increasing photovoltaic
power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). These materials are
ABX3-structured solution-processable semiconductors com-
prising only Earth-abundant elements, making them extremely
inexpensive to fabricate. The best perovskite photovoltaic
devices have now reached over 23% PCE, making perovskites
the highest-performing thin-film photovoltaic technology.1
Their rapid rise to high efficiencies has been enabled by facile
fabrication, strong absorption coefficients, long carrier life-
times, high charge-carrier mobilities, and an apparent tolerance
to defects.2
The earliest organic halide perovskite solar cells relied on
nonalloyed compositions such as methylammonium lead
iodide, with a single cation or anion type at each lattice site,
but more recently the field has moved toward more complex
alloyed compositions containing multiple cations and anions
on each lattice site. The perovskite structure enables tuning of
the physical properties by alloying on each site; this approach
has been motivated by the possibility to reach more optimum
band gaps for solar energy conversion and the demonstration
of superior thermal and environmental stability due to
improvements in both the chemical stability of the
components and tuning of the “tolerance factor”, a metric
parametrizing the ideality of the perovskite lattice and
representing its phase stability.3 Most notably, recently triple
A-site cation compositions where the inorganic cesium is
added to the organic molecules formamidinium and methyl-
ammonium to alloy on the A-site have proven very successful,
with some of the highest efficiencies4 and extremely promising
long-term atmospheric stability5 reported. By tailoring the
contact materials and interfaces carefully, Luther et al. were
able to demonstrate >90% of initial efficiency retained in
devices based on the triple-cation perovskites (hereafter
FAMACs, where FA = formamidinium, MA = methylammo-
nium, and Cs = Cesium) after continual operation for 1000 h
in ambient conditions, a nontrivial feat given that the
perovskite material itself is susceptible to degradation via
moisture, oxygen, and ultraviolet light.
In addition to the excellent performance and recently
improved stability of perovskite solar cells,5 these systems have
also demonstrated excellent radiation hardness to high-energy
particles making them attractive for space applications.6−8
Perovskite solar cells have also been produced on flexible
substrates, which could lead to low-weight (high-specific-
power) flexible arrays.9,10 While current state-of-the-art single
junction perovskite solar cells cannot compete with traditional
multijunction space cells in terms of efficiency, they could be
important for systems where low cost and low weight are
important in the relatively near term. Here, we specifically
assess the suitability or potential of FAMACs-based solar cells
for missions to the outer planetary systems that can be
Received: October 31, 2018
Accepted: December 13, 2018
Published: December 13, 2018

© 2018 American Chemical Society 814 DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.8b01882

ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2019, 2, 814−821
ACS Applied Energy Materials
Figure 1. Temperature dependent (a) external quantum efficiency (EQE) and (b) photoluminescence (PL). (c) 3D plot of energy and intensity
dependence of temperature dependent PL. (d) Line width broadening of temperature dependent PL.
particularly hostile in terms of irradiation (for example at
Jupiter), but also have low-intensity−low-temperature (LILT)
environments. FAMACs solar cells are assessed in the
environments equivalent to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, with
the results showing that these perovskite systems offer real
potential for applications in CubeSat and SmallSat missions
into deeper space, where high-specific-power, low-cost, and
deployable systems are required.11−13
Figure 1 shows the variable temperature (VT) external
quantum efficiency (EQE) and photoluminescence (PL) of a
representative FAMACs solar cell. The EQE in Figure 1a
indicates little shift in the absorption edge between 80 K and
room temperature (RT). As the temperature is lowered, a
noticeable reduction of the EQE is evident in the region below
600 nm of the solar spectrum. At the same time, the VT PL
intensity increases with decreasing temperature and is
anticorrelated with the PL (EQE reduces while PL intensity
increases and vice versa), indicating a possible relation between
the properties measured. A selection of VT PL spectra are
shown in Figure 1b. A clear reduction of the PL intensity is
evident between 4 and 280 K, with a particularly rapid decrease
in the signal evident above 200 K (the full data between 4 and
300 K along with the related VT dependence of the intensity
and energy are shown in the Supporting Information Figure
S1). The origin of this effect is likely related to a combination
of the ionization of the exciton binding energy (at higher
temperatures) in the FAMACs and an unintentional barrier for
minority electron extraction, which becomes more prevalent at
low temperature and higher intensity as discussed further
below.
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The behavior of the PL energy and intensity dependence of
the VT PL is shown in a 3D plot in Figure 1c. Also shown in
this figure as white stars is the position of the absorption edge
extracted from Tauc analysis of the EQE (see the Supporting
Information Figure S2). The PL and EQE match closely,
indicating that the PL measured in these FAMACs solar cells is
derived from the band gap of the semiconductor and that any
contribution from excitonic effects (even at lower temper-
atures) falls within the line width of the free carrier
recombination (PL) emitted from the perovskite in this
device. On inspection, the PL energy increases between 4 and
300 K from ∼1.60 eV (774 nm) to 1.615 eV (767 nm) at RT.
This increase in energy with increasing temperature, while
opposite the behavior of the band gap with temperature in
more traditional semiconductors,14 is well-understood in
perovskites and relates to the band inversion symmetry (s-
like valence and doubly degenerate p-like conduction bands) in
perovskite systems.15
What is also evident in Figure 1c is the absence of any clear
indication of a structural phase change that has been observed
in both MAPbI316 and the more stable FAPbI317 perovskite,
which incur transitions in crystal symmetry:18 MAPbI3
transitions from orthorhombic to tetragonal at ∼160 K, and
from tetragonal to cubic at T ∼ 330 K. Here, the triple-cation
FAMACs material investigated remains stable and structurally
uniform in the cubic phase at all temperatures.4 Moreover, no
evidence of low-temperature phase inclusions or alloy
fluctuations is evident, as is the case (particularly) in
MAPbI3.15,19 The phase stability as a function of temperature
(and upon thermal cycling during PL and EQE measurements)
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Figure 2. Forward and reverse J−V response of a representative FAMACs-based solar cell at (a) 300 K at 1 sun AM0 and (c) 263 K at 0.43 × AM0,
respectively. Comparison of the EQE and PL at (b) 300 K and (d) 263 K, respectively.
suggests this triple-cation perovskite system offers a stable
solution at a low cost in deployable systems for outer planetary
space missions.
Despite the absence of clear excitonic signatures in the PL
spectra, some subtle effects of carrier localization, carrier
annihilation via radiative recombination, and/or excitons are
evident in the PL intensity analysis shown in Figure S1. The
presence of stable PL at higher temperatures in the device
architecture indicates strong radiative recombination in the
perovskite absorber. To gain insight into this behavior further
analysis of the VT PL was performed to extract the excitonic
binding energy and broadening mechanisms in the solar cell
device. Figure 1d shows the effect of temperature upon the PL
full width at half-maximum (fwhm). As temperature is
increased, the PL line width (fwhm) increases steadily from
∼30 meV at 4 K to ∼79 meV at RT.
To model the origin of this broadening, the data was fit with
the following equation:
Γtot = Γ0 + Γimp + Γacoustic + Γoptical (1)
Here, Γ0 is the temperature independent inhomogeneous line
width, and Γimp = γimpe(−Ea)/kBT is related to extrinsic or Urbach
mechanisms due to nonidealities in the system such as alloy
fluctuations, impurities, and/or defect related transitions.
Γacoustic = γacousticT is related to carrier interactions with
γoptical
acoustic phonons, while theΓoptical = (−Ea)/kBT term are
e −1
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broadening processes related to optical phonons mediated by
Fröhlich interactions that dominate in polar semiconductors at
elevated temperatures.20
The temperature dependences of the individual broadening
mechanisms are shown as dotted lines and labeled accordingly
in Figure 1d. The solid black squares (Figure 1d) show the
temperature dependent fwhm extracted from the VT PL from
4.2 to 300 K. The solid red line shows a fit to this data using eq
1. When considering the individual contributions, the high-
temperature region (T > 50 K) is consistent with LO
(longitudinal optical) phonon broadening (green), as expected
due to the polar nature of the perovskites, which has been
shown to dominate spectral broadening in several other
common perovskite systems.15,21 At low temperatures (T < 50
K), the LO phonon population is low, and as such other
mechanisms must dominate the broadening of the PL.
On inspection, the PL line width approaches T = 0 K with a
fwhm of ∼31 meV providing a lower limit for the PL line
width, Γ0, which is temperature independent inhomogeneous
broadening attributed to effects such as compositional disorder
and nonidealities of the crystal structure. Further effects of
broadening due to alloy fluctuations, impurities, and/or
defects, Γimp (Figure 1d, dark yellow), also approach zero
(Γimp ∼ 3.5 × 10−14 meV) indicating the effects of impurities
here are negligible and the PL broadening is wholly dominated
by phonon-mediated scattering processes.15 As such, any
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Figure 3. (a, d) LILT J−V responses for conditions comparable to those of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. (b, e) A comparison of the EQE and
PL at 135 and 100 K. (c, f) The 1 sun AM0 J−V responses at 135 and 100 K, respectively.
increase in fwhm between 4.2 K < T < 50 K must therefore be
dominated by acoustic phonons, Γacoustic. The response of the
LA phonons is shown in blue in Figure 1d and approaches the
Γ0 value at 0 K. In total, the broadening parameter γacoustic of
Γacoustic contributes approximately 18 μeV to the total line
width, which is negligible in comparison to that of the γoptical
(∼62 meV), further demonstrating the dominance of
electron−LO phonon interactions in the triple-cation perov-
skite system (FAMACs) investigated here.
The presence of strong luminescence at low temperature,
which is sustained up to 300 K, is consistent with and
supported by the large exciton binding energy, EB ∼ 33 meV,
determined from eq 1 and extracted from the Arrhenius plot of
the VT PL (Supporting Information Figure S1). However, this
value is somewhat larger than that of typical MA- and FA-
based perovskites.22 The VT PL displays an initial rapid
decrease of the PL intensity at T ∼ 150 K (15 meV), followed
by a stabilization of the PL intensity at 150 < T < 300 K. It will
be shown below that this is related to an intentional barrier at
the FAMACs/SnO2 interface (which is temperature and
intensity dependent) that inhibits minority electron extrac-
tion/transport. This serves to facilitate radiative recombination
under certain conditions. As such, it is suggested that the true
EB here is likely closer to 15−20 meV, consistent with EB
values extracted in mixed-cation systems previously.23,24
The first evidence of a parasitic barrier in this device
architecture is observed in Figure 2, which shows the
photovoltaic properties at 300 K, air mass zero (AM0), and
LILT conditions at Mars (263 K, 0.43 × AM0). In Figure 2a
the AM0 current density−voltage (J−V) curves show the well-
known hysteresis between the forward and reverse J−V scans
in perovskite materials,25,26 with the highest performance
observed when measuring the devices in reverse. This behavior
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has previously been attributed to polarity driven ionic motion
in the perovskite absorber.27 The size of the hysteresis likely
stems from some degradation of the samples, which occurred
during transit28 and storage between the partner laboratories
resulting in a relatively low 1 sun AM0 PCE of ∼10 ± 2% for
these specific devices.
The partial breakdown of the absorber due to environmental
effects typically induces a greater defect population, where
previously the presence of defects has been directly related to
hysteresis.29 Devices measured before shipment to the
University of Oklahoma displayed PCE of ∼15.3 ± 0.9%
under the 1 sun AM1.5G spectrum, with much reduced
hysteresis (data presented in Supporting Information Table
S1). Despite this loss of PCE in transit, the samples suffered no
further loss of performance (remain stable) in the measure-
ment system (cryostat). Here, while unintentional, we consider
such degradation, or loss of performance, as a good indicator of
potential effects that may be experienced in transit in space.28
Therefore, these effects would provide useful information
regarding the device performance on arrival at outer planetary
sites on deep space missions.
In Figure 2a the AM0 short-circuit current (Jsc) (reverse) is
22.5 ± 0.008 mA/cm2, and the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is 1.0
± 0.07 V. Figure 2b shows a comparison of the EQE (black)
and PL (red) at 300 K. As indicated in Figure 1c, the PL
energy is well-matched to the band gap of the perovskite
absorber layer, with the total EQE and PL intensity confirming
the quality and integrity of the perovskite film and device
structure. Figure 2c shows representative J−V characteristics of
the FAMACs solar cell at 263 K and 0.43 × AM0, LILT
conditions relative to Mars, again measured in forward and
reverse directions. In these data the effects of hysteresis are still
evident, but a second effect also begins to become apparent.
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Figure 4. Schematic illustration of the ideal band offsets (a) in the device under investigation at equilibrium, and under forward bias condition in
parts b and c, respectively. The parasitic barrier at the SnO2/FAMACs interface in parts b and c manifests itself as a minority electron barrier, which
increases under conventional forward bias. (d, f) Bias dependent external quantum efficiency (EQE) at 100 and 280 K, respectively. The bias
dependent photoluminescence at 100 and 270 K is shown in parts e and g, respectively.

In Figure 2c, both the forward (red solid circles) and reverse
(solid green circles) directions reveal evidence of a barrier to
majority current flow in the high-voltage (V > Voc) regime.
Moreover, the higher operating voltage of the reverse scan
(green) reveals the presence of negative differential resistance
and tunneling effects under high forward bias. These data
indicate the current is limited by thermionic emission across
the unintentional barrier, the rate of which depends upon the
barrier height and the thermal energy of the carriers (kBT).
The EQE and PL at 263 K shown in Figure 2d again
demonstrate a strong correlation between PL and the
absorption edge despite the presence of a parasitic barrier in
the device structure, indicating the prevalence of radiative
processes and, therefore, the high material quality of the
system.
818
On lowering the intensity and temperature further to
conditions consistent with LILT at Saturn (Figure 3a) and
Jupiter (Figure 3c), the hysteresis is removed in both cases.
This reflects the well-known “freezing out” of ionic
motion17,22,30 and illustrates (along with the stable cubic
phase, Figure 1c) the potential for improved stable perform-
ance of these systems in LILT environments. Moreover, these
data demonstrate that there are no significant degradations or
ambiguities when reducing the temperature and/or intensity of
the devices. In both cases (Saturn and Jupiter) there are
reductions in both Voc and Jsc, which are expected under LILT
conditions, but these values reflect the effect of the reduced
intensity under these conditions (Saturn 0.011 × AM0; Jupiter
0.037 × AM0) rather than thermally mediated parasitic losses
or additional nonradiative processes.
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Both parts a and b of Figure 3 show an enhanced barrier to
majority carriers in the forward bias regime, which is consistent
with the lower thermal energy of the carriers (kBT ∼ 12 meV)
and the resulting increase in the “effective” barrier to charge
transport. Despite this behavior, the fill factors extracted from
the J−V responses at 100 and 135 K are actually increased at
lower temperatures with respect to the higher-temperature
responses shown in Figure 2a,c for AM0 and 0.43 × AM0, the
conditions for low Earth orbit (LEO) and Mars, respectively.
In the case of the 300 K data and the 263 K data (for
example), the fill factors (FFs) extracted by fitting to a simple
single diode model for the reverse scan are ∼66% and 72%,
respectively. As the temperature (and intensity) is reduced to
Jupiter conditions at 135 K (0.037 × AM0) the FF improves to
∼75% (in both directions), and still further to 77% for
conditions consistent with those of Saturn at 100 K (0.011 ×
AM0). These improvements in FF are evident in Figure 3a,c.
Moreover, when the scaled irradiance at Jupiter and Saturn is
considered, the PCE value extracted for LILT conditions at
Jupiter and Saturn is 11.1 ± 0.05%, close to the value at RT of
∼11% (see Supporting Information (Table S2) for full table of
extracted PV parameters using the single diode model). This
retention of PCE under LILT conditions (despite the initial
degradation of these devices in transit) suggests that any losses
or degradation induced in transit to deeper space caused by
exposure to high-temperature thermal cycling and/or moisture
experienced while traveling in LEO, or through the Van Allen
magnetosphere (for example), do not appear to either cause or
facilitate additional degradation.
Figure 3b,d shows the comparative EQE and PL at 135 K
(Jupiter) and 100 K (Saturn), respectively. Strong PL is once
more evident that is well-matched to the EQE band edge. As
such, the Jsc values from the Jupiter and Saturn LILT
conditions are ∼0.9 mA/cm2 (135 K) and ∼0.25 mA/cm2
(100 K); the Voc values extracted are ∼0.85 and ∼0.84 V for
Jupiter and Saturn temperatures, respectively.
Figure 3c,f shows the J−V measurements at the higher-
intensity 1 sun AM0 for the temperatures at Jupiter and Saturn,
respectively. When compared to the J−V for these systems at
the lower-intensity LILT (see Figure 3a,d), a large loss of fill
factor is evident. This behavior further supports the presence
of a temperature and intensity dependent barrier that inhibits
carrier extraction, particularly at low temperature and high
intensity. These properties are once more attributed to the
presence of a parasitic barrier between the FAMACs absorber
and the upper SnO2 electron-transporting layer (discussed
above), which manifests itself in the forward bias regime of the
J−V responses with decreasing temperature (see Figures 2 and
3). Although the perovskite/spiro-OMeTAD31,32(see Support-
ing Information for further info on spiro-OMeTAD hole
transport material) and spiro-OMeTAD/MoOx/Al33 inter-
faces have both been shown to contribute to inhomogeneities
and nonidealities in early perovskite solar cell architectures
here, several of the experimental signatures indicate that the
SnO2/FAMACs is the predominant source of fill factor loss in
the devices presented, as detailed below.
To qualitatively understand the origin of this behavior, the
ideal approximate band offsets for the device are shown in
Figure 4a with the inclusion of a hypothetical parasitic
Schottky barrier at the SnO2/FAMACs interface at 0 V
(Figure 4b) and at forward bias (Figure 4c). At zero bias (see
Figure 4b), the carriers that traverse the junction are limited to
thermionic emission. Thus, the contribution of this barrier is
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reduced, as is consistent with the absence (or reduction) of
this barrier at T > 263 K. However, as the thermal energy
(kBT) of the carriers is reduced, the ef fect of this barrier
increases, due to a reduction in the thermionic emission rate.
Upon forward biasing the device (see Figure 4c), this parasitic
barrier is increased, since it is effectively reverse biased and
opposes the conventional majority transport across the device.
Therefore, in high forward bias the majority current is blocked,
or saturates as the current level across the diode is perturbed.
This qualitative model can also explain the effect of the
device under illumination, including the improved operation of
the device under low intensity. Since current across the
FAMACs/SnO2 interface is limited by thermionic emission at
the Schottky barrier, this will also serve to limit the extraction
of photogenerated electrons in the device. At low temperatures
when the barrier is ef fectively at its highest and the thermionic
emission process at its least efficient, large photogenerated
carrier concentrations will experience inhibited carrier
extraction. Since the generated carriers will exceed the
thermionic emission rate, a large effective resistance to
minority electrons at the FAMACs/SnO2 interface will result.
This is illustrated in Figure 3c,f where the AM0 1 sun J−V
characteristics at Saturn and Jupiter, respectively, experience a
large reduction in FF.
However, at lower excitation intensities, like those of LILT
conditions shown in Figure 3a,d, the carrier extraction and FF
are much improved with respect to the AM0 1 sun
measurements. This is the result of the significantly lower
generation rate of carriers under the LILT conditions at Saturn
and Jupiter, which does not exceed that of the thermionic
emission rate. This leads to a much more ef f icient extraction rate
for the minority electrons under illumination, at conditions
consistent with those at Jupiter and Saturn.
Further evidence of the presence of a barrier at the upper
FAMACs/SnO2 and its effect on carrier extraction interface is
observed in Figure 4d,f. In Figure 4d, the EQE at 100 K is
presented at Jsc (0 V), and at the AM0 1 sun Vmp (0.34 V) (see
Supporting Information Figure S3 for full VT EQE data). At Jsc
the EQE is limited predominantly by the reflectivity of the
system (and the absence of an AR coating), with no significant
loss in the blue region where carrier extraction at the
FAMACs/SnO2 interface would occur. However, when
considering the EQE in forward bias (V = 0.34 V) a large
reduction in the blue region of the EQE is evident. This
directly reflects the increase in the barrier height at the
FAMACs/SnO2 interface under forward applied voltage (see
Figure 4d for the qualitative effect of this situation). The
formation of a large barrier serves to increase carrier
recombination losses in the FAMACs absorber. This is evident
when considering Figure 4e, which shows the bias dependent
PL at 100 K (Saturn) for biases of 0 V (red), 0.3 V (1 sun
AM0 Vmp, green), and 0.7 V (V ∼ Voc, blue).
In all cases, the PL was excited with a defocused HeNe laser
(P ∼ 80 mW/cm2, 632.8 nm) to prevent degradation to the
perovskite film as a result of local heating. The presence of
strong and stable PL at 100 K is evident due to the limited
thermionic emission rate and therefore carrier extraction rate
at the FAMACs/SnO2 interface, which results in enhanced
radiative recombination of the photogenerated carriers. The
effect upon the absolute PL intensity at difference biases (at
100 K) is relatively small (see Figure 4e) and reflects the large
effective barrier to photogenerated electrons under these
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temperature and excitation conditions, even at zero applied
voltage.
Further evidence for the presence of the strong barrier to
minority carrier extraction is shown in the inset to Figure 4e,
which shows the J−V characteristic measured simultaneously
during PL measurements, with black, red, and green (solid
squares) showing the voltage at which the PL was taken. The
presence of an inflection in the PV region and the higher
resistance directly reflect the large barrier to minority carrier
extraction and a subsequent increase in series resistance (and
loss of FF) across the device.
The barrier at the FAMACs/SnO2 interface is less limiting at
higher temperatures, since carriers experience a higher
thermionic emission rate due to increased thermal energy,
and carrier extraction is much more efficient under such
conditions. The PL at higher temperatures (T > 260 K, see
temperature dependent J−V at 1 sun AM0 in Supporting
Information Figure S4) is thus much more sensitive to the
applied bias since the effective barrier has a much bigger effect
on carrier transport at higher T. The associated mono-
chromatic J−V (simultaneous HeNe laser excitation) is shown
as an inset to Figure 4g. Clear evidence of a barrier is observed
in Figure 4g at the excitation intensities used, in which the PL
intensity varies considerably as a function of bias. Although the
presence of a barrier provides significant loss processes for the
devices at AM0 (and with high-intensity irradiation at ambient
conditions), these results indicate that, under LILT conditions
(particularly those that reflect deep space missions to Jupiter
and Saturn), FAMACs solar cells are capable of operating as
efficiently as under room temperature 1 sun conditions.
In summary, perovskite solar cells based on the triple-cation
(FA0.79MA0.16Cs0.05)0.97Pb(I0.84Br0.16)2.97 absorber layer were
investigated for potential missions in deep space. The stability
of this system is demonstrated by the absence of a clear phase
transition with the system preserving its cubic structure
between 4.2 and 300 K. Despite this, strong photo-
luminescence is observed at all temperatures with an excitonic
binding of 15−30 meV extracted from temperature dependent
PL. The thermal broadening of the PL is shown to be almost
entirely due to carrier interactions with LO−phonons, the
energy of which is of the order of 25 meV, in these systems.
However, bias dependent behavior of the PL (at higher
temperatures) and temperature dependent EQE imply that
some contribution of the binding energy relates to the
localization of minority carrier at an unintentional barrier at
the FAMACs/SnO2 interface. This barrier, which limits the
performance of devices under 1 sun AM0 conditions at 300 K,
proves to have little effect upon the properties of the devices
under LILT conditions, suggesting the minority carrier
extraction is limited by the thermionic emission in these
devices. Indeed, despite obvious degradation of the devices
under investigation, as is evidenced by the presence of
hysteresis in the J−V response (in addition to the parasitic
barrier at the upper SnO2 interface), the low-temperature
performance of these devices suggests that these systems
operate well in outer planetary LILT conditions, where both
the hysteresis is frozen out and the intensity conditions enable
efficient carrier extraction.
■
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
*
S Supporting Information
The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the
ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.8b01882.
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Article
Materials and methods, temperature dependent photo-
luminescence, Tauc plot of EQE data, temperature
dependent external quantum efficiency curves, temper-
ature dependent current−voltage curves, and tables of
extracted solar cell parameters (PDF)
■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: sellers@ou.edu.
ORCID
C. R. Brown: 0000-0002-4648-8908
G. E. Eperon: 0000-0001-9600-4847
Present Address
∥
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado
80401, United States.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge financial support through the NASA
EPSCoR program, Grant NNX16AQ97A. G.E.E. was
supported by the European Union’s Framework Programme
for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under the Marie
Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement 699935.
■
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821 DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.8b01882

ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2019, 2, 814−821