Nanomechanical Approach for Flexibility of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells.

The mechanical flexibility of perovskite solar cells as well as high power conversion efficiency is attracting increasing attention. In addition to existing empirical approaches, such as cyclic bending tests, in this study we report the tensile properties of the perovskite materials themselves. Measuring the tensile properties of free-standing perovskite materials is critical because (1) tensile properties represent the realistic mechanical properties of the film-type perovskite layer in the solar cells including the effects of various defects, and (2) deformation behavior of the perovskite layer at any deformed state of the solar cells can be analyzed using solid mechanics with the tensile properties as input. Critical bending radius of MAPbI3-based flexible solar cells is found to be between 0.5 and 1.0 mm by the decrease in power conversion efficiency during cyclic bending deformation. This finding agrees well with the critical bending radius of 0.66 mm determined based on the elastic deformation limit of 1.17% for MAPbI3 found by in situ tensile testing. Scanning electron microscopy observations and hole-nanoindentation tests suggest that the formation of coarse cracks in the perovskite layers is the primary cause of the decrease in power conversion efficiency observed in flexible perovskite solar cells.

Flexibility of Semitransparent Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes Investigated by Tensile Properties of the Perovskite Layer.

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have been investigated extensively for use in perovskite-based solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) because of their excellent electrical and optical properties. Although the flexibility of perovskite LEDs has been studied through empirical methods such as cyclic bending tests, the flexibility of the perovskite layer has not been investigated systemically. Here, flexible and semitransparent perovskite LEDs are fabricated: a PEDOT:PSS anode and Ag nanowire cathode allow for flexible and semitransparent devices, while the use of a conjugated polyelectrolyte as an interfacial layer reduces the electron injection barrier between the cathode and the electron transport layer (SPW-111), resulting in enhanced device efficiency. Cyclic bending tests performed on the electrodes and in situ hole-nanoindentation tests performed on the constituent materials suggest that mechanical failure occurs in the perovskite MAPbBr3 layer during cyclic bending, leading to a decrease in the luminance. Tensile properties of the MAPbBr3 layer explain the critical bending radius ( rb) of the perovskite LEDs on the order of 1 mm.