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Characterization of Mobile Ions in Perovskite Solar Cells with Capacitance and Current Measurements by Approximating Drift-Diffusion Simulations

Moritz C. Schmidt1, Agustin O. Alvarez1, Biruk A. Seid2, Jeroen J. de Boer1, Felix Lang2, and Bruno Ehrler1,*

  • 1LMPV—Sustainable Energy Materials Department, AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 2ROSI Freigeist Juniorgroup, Institut für Physik und Astronomie, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany

  • *Contact author: b.ehrler@amolf.nl
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PRX Energy 4, 033017 – Published 16 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mr3l-jg9h

Abstract

The migration of mobile ions is one of the leading causes of the degradation of perovskite solar cells. However, quantifying mobile ions in complete perovskite solar cells is challenging due to the complex device stacks and the impact of charge transport layers on the measurement techniques. Here we develop a simple and openly accessible step model that approximates drift-diffusion simulations. The step model is based on the expression of the charge density in the ionic and electronic accumulation and depletion layers as step functions. We can then accurately determine the impact of mobile ions on the dc potential distribution of perovskite solar cells. Furthermore, we can simulate electrical measurement techniques commonly used to quantify mobile ions: capacitance transient, current transient, and capacitance-frequency measurements. By validating the step model with drift-diffusion simulations, we show that an accurate extraction of ion density, diffusion coefficient, and activation energy is possible in an accessible range. We finally apply the step model developed to estimate the ionic conductivity and activation energy of perovskite solar cells.

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Popular Summary

Mobile ions have been assigned to various efficiency losses in perovskite solar cells. However, charge transport layers are often not accounted for when characterizing mobile ions, even though they can impact the response of electrical measurements. In this work, the authors develop an approximation of drift-diffusion simulations that allows the computationally inexpensive approximation of capacitance transient, current transient, and capacitance frequency measurements. With the developed model, they can then fit these measurements to extract the ionic conductivity and activation energy, as well as the ion density and diffusion coefficient within a specified range.

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PRX Energy 4, 033017– Published 16 September, 2025
  • Received 17 May 2025
  • Revised 23 July 2025
  • Accepted 12 August 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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