Analysis of the Different Kinetic Processes in Perovskite Solar Cells

Photovoltaics have become one of the most popular renewable source of energy. Photovoltaic technologies transform sunlight into electricity, they are available worldwide, and they do not depend on the conversion of motive power, making this technology quite easy to implement. Nowadays, silicon is still the most used material for photovoltaics. Anyway, new photovoltaic technologies have emerged as alternatives to silicon, as they are cheaper, easier to process, and, they are possible to use on flexible substrates. Among them, lead halide perovskites have become one of the most popular choice in the scientific community, due to the great properties that this material presents.

While efficiencies have risen above 25%, which is close to their maximum theoretical limit, there is still debate about the processes happening in the device. In this thesis, we try to gain insight into charge carrier processes from their generation to their recombination at both perovskite interfaces, and also in the bulk of the material. Using advanced characterization techniques, such as transient photovoltage (TPV), transient photocurrent (TPC), charge extraction (CE), and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (fsTA) we obtained important findings about charge carrier losses, and artifacts affecting charge carrier recombination in functional devices that lead to lower power conversion efficiencies.