Efficiency Potential and Voltage Loss of Inorganic CsPbI2Br Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Inorganic perovskite solar cells show excellent thermal stability, but the reported power conversion efficiencies are still lower than for organic–inorganic perovskites. This is mainly caused by lower open‐circuit voltages (VOCs). Herein, the reasons for the low VOC in inorganic CsPbI2Br perovskite solar cells are investigated. Intensity‐dependent photoluminescence measurements for different layer stacks reveal that n–i–p and p–i–n CsPbI2Br solar cells exhibit a strong mismatch between quasi‐Fermi level splitting (QFLS) and VOC. Specifically, the CsPbI2Br p–i–n perovskite solar cell has a QFLS–e ·VOC mismatch of 179 meV, compared with 11 meV for a reference cell with an organic–inorganic perovskite of similar bandgap. On the other hand, this study shows that the CsPbI2Br films with a bandgap of 1.9 eV have a very low defect density, resulting in an efficiency potential of 20.3% with a MeO–2PACz hole‐transporting layer and 20.8% on compact TiO2. Using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements, energy level misalignment is identified as a possible reason for the QFLS–e ·VOC mismatch and strategies for overcoming this VOC limitation are discussed. This work highlights the need to control the interfacial energetics in inorganic perovskite solar cells, but also gives promise for high efficiencies once this issue is resolved.