Electrical Scanning Probe Microscopy of Perovskite Solar Cell Films

Sarah Vorpahl,  David Moerman,  Micah Glaz,  David S. Ginger
University of Washington


Abstract

Hybrid perovskites (CH3NH3PbX3) are remarkable semiconductors that have already been used to produce solar cells with over 20% efficiencies. We use several non-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques to characterize nanoscale variations in the electrical properties of hybrid perovskite thin films. We map local changes in surface potential related and characteristic of energetic barriers at perovskite interfaces using scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM). We map charge trapping by using electrostatic force microscopy to measure local energy dissipation in perovskite films. We correlate these AFM techniques with fluorescence imaging to understand how different structural variations result in different local electronic properties in these materials.