In-Situ Probing the Degradation Behavior of the Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite Film by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 128; no. 28; pp. 11784 - 11792
• Main Authors: Li, Jianmin, Fu, Yikai, Gao, Hong-Ying, Dai, Haitao, Sun, Zhixiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 18.07.2024
• Subjects: C: Physical Properties of Materials and Interfaces
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c01184

Although there have been extensive studies on the degradation of organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite (OIHP) films at the microscale, the microscopic degradation mechanism of the OIHP films under the effect of bias voltage and electric current has not been fully understood. We report in-situ measurements on the microscopic degradation process of solution-processed MA0.4FA0.6PbI3 films using scanning tunneling microscopy. During the scanning process, hole-like structures appear inside the grain and at the grain boundaries, accompanied by the shrinking of the grain size. With a sufficiently large bias, direct fragmentation is observed. Furthermore, film degradations under passivation with dibenzo-24-crown-8 molecules are also studied, and a clear retardation of degradation process is observed. Our work provides in-situ observations of OIHP film degradation caused by local current and voltage, which are essential for understanding the microscopic degradation mechanism of metal halide perovskite films.