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3D organic-inorganic perovskites are promising since the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells made from these materials have gone from 3% to 21% in the last five years, so their PCE is comparable to that of silicon. However, their stability when exposed to sunlight or water is low and device characteristics often show hysteresis, so that PCEs depend on the cell history, undermining claims for high PCEs. Ruddlesden–Popper, R-P, phases are layered 2D perovskite films such as (BA)2(MA)n−1PbnI3n + 1 where BA is butyl-ammonium and MA methyl-ammonium (Figure 1). Cells fabricated from R-P for n = 3 and n = 10 have lifetimes ~2200 hours and PCEs of 12.5%.

This project will develop a mesoscale model of charge transport in cells made of R-P films that will help identify means of improving efficiency without sacrificing cell stability.