{"id":649,"date":"2017-04-19T10:55:38","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T09:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/in-abstract\/?p=649"},"modified":"2017-07-25T09:45:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T08:45:31","slug":"investigating-degradation-of-perovskite-surfaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/in-abstract\/investigating-degradation-of-perovskite-surfaces\/","title":{"rendered":"In situ investigation of degradation at organometal halide perovskite surfaces by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at realistic water vapour pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shedding new light on the degradation of next generation solar cells<\/h4>\n

So-called ”organic perovskites” have shown immense promise as cheap light harvesters for a new generation of solar cells, with device efficiencies rising in the last 5 years to more than 22% – now close to that of the conventional material, silicon. However, exploitation of these materials is currently prevented by their instability when exposed to water and air, which leads to rapid degradation. Understanding the mechanism of this reaction would allow researchers to identify methods by which the process may be retarded or even stopped. The difficulty is that the material goes off before the reaction of water at its surfaces can be studied!<\/p>\n

Now a cross-disciplinary team of researchers from Physics, Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of Manchester has utilized a new technique, Near-Ambient-Pressure X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, to measure the reaction of pristine perovskite with water for the first time. The key was to manufacture the perovskite inside the spectrometer, without any contact with air. This allowed them to unambiguously determine the degradation mechanism. These results will help synthetic chemists to design new light harvesting materials, which will not easily decompose when exposed to water, so their full potential can be exploited.<\/p>\n

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