Optimizing Perovskite Solar Cell Performance and Stability Through Automated, Multimodal Characterization

Perovskite photovoltaic (PV) devices have achieved power conversion efficiencies exceeding 25%, but stability challenges remain as critical obstacles to commercialization. Degradation mechanisms often involve complex interactions between bulk materials and interfaces, influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as light induced ion motion and charge transport layer chemistries. Decoupling the study of degradation pathways arising from bulk absorber and interfacial interactions is a crucial challenge for optimizing solar cell stability. Here, we present the application of the Optigon Prism, an automated metrology tool, to perform a unique combination of transmission, spectrally-resolved photoluminescence (SRPL), and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurements on perovskite solar cells with and without a hole transport layer (HTL) during cyclic high-intensity light soaking. We then show the capability to process this multimodal dataset to extract and track changes in key material properties, such as non-radiative recombination, over time. These measurements and material properties analysis reveal critical insights during accelerated stability testing, including the observation of cyclic recovery dynamics indicative of ion migration and distinct degradation trends between sample sets with and without HTLs. This work demonstrates the unique advantages of automated, multimodal metrology tools and proposes a potential method to conduct accelerated stability testing that will be essential for the widespread adoption of perovskite PVs.