Proton irradiation induced damage effects in CH<sub>3</sub>NH<sub>3</sub>PbI<sub>3</sub>-based perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have a great potential for space applications due to their high specific power, low cost and high defect tolerance. PSCs used in space will be subjected to high-energy particle irradiation, especially proton irradiation, resulting in the decline of photovoltaic (PV) performance. However, the research on proton irradiation effects in PSCs is still in its infancy stage. In this work, the CH₃NH₃PbI₃ (MAPbI₃) thin films and their PSCs are irradiated by protons with energy of 0.1, 2, 10, 20 MeV, etc. Irradiation-induced changes in PV parameters of the PSCs are studied as a function of proton fluence. The structural and surface morphological changes of the irradiated MAPbI₃ films and Au electrode layers of PSCs are characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, UV spectrophotometer is also employed to analyze the transmission loss in glass substrate induced by proton irradiation. It is found that PSCs exhibit superior resistance against proton irradiation. The PV properties of the PSCs don’t degrade after 0.1 MeV (2 MeV) proton irradiation up to a fluence of 1×10¹³ p/cm² (1×10¹⁴ p/cm²). The irradiation-induced damage in the charge transport layers may be the main cause for the performance degradation of PSCs. The gaseous products (NH₃ and CH₃I) of perovskite decomposition eventually lead to exfoliation of the top Au electrode from the PSCs. Regarding 10 and 20 MeV proton irradiation with larger projected ion ranges, the irradiations create color center defects in glass substrate of PSCs, which results in a decrease in light transmission of visible spectrum. However, the color center defects, specifically non-bridging oxygen hole centers, will be partly annealed at room temperature or 100 ℃, reducing the transmission loss in glass. The reported results may help predict the performance degradation of PSCs in space irradiation environment.