Journal Article

Enhancing photoluminescence yields in lead halide perovskites by photon recycling and light out-coupling

Tabachnyk, Maxim, Pazos-Outón, Luis M., Price, Michael, Rivett, Jasmine P.H., Friend, Richard H., Abdi-Jalebi, Mojtaba, Richter, Johannes M., Gödel, Karl C., Sadhanala, Aditya, Deschler, Felix

2016

Overview

In lead halide perovskite solar cells, there is at least one recycling event of electron–hole pair to photon to electron–hole pair at open circuit under solar illumination. This can lead to a significant reduction in the external photoluminescence yield from the internal yield. Here we show that, for an internal yield of 70%, we measure external yields as low as 15% in planar films, where light out-coupling is inefficient, but observe values as high as 57% in films on textured substrates that enhance out-coupling. We analyse in detail how externally measured rate constants and photoluminescence efficiencies relate to internal recombination processes under photon recycling. For this, we study the photo-excited carrier dynamics and use a rate equation to relate radiative and non-radiative recombination events to measured photoluminescence efficiencies. We conclude that the use of textured active layers has the ability to improve power conversion efficiencies for both LEDs and solar cells. Recombinations govern losses in solar cells. Here, Richter et al . use transient spectroscopy to evaluate how re-absorption and re-emission of photons in perovskite absorbers affect intrinsic recombination coefficients, and to differentiate between external and internal photoluminescence quantum yields.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 140/125 / 639/301 / 639/766 / 639/766/119/1000 / Glass substrates / Humanities and Social Sciences / Investigations / Lasers / Light / multidisciplinary / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Solar cells / Spectrum analysis