Optoelectronic characterization of hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites for solar cell and X-ray detector applications

In the last 10 years, the research interest has been drawn towards the hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites, an innovative material characterized by remarkable optoelectronic properties and by its simplicity of fabrication; hybrid halide perovskites are currently being employed as active material in solar cells, X-ray photodetectors and light emitting devices. The following thesis presents the characterization of two perovskite-based materials. The first is a methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) thin film solar cell, which has been fabricated and characterized at the University of Konstanz (Germany), with the aim to optimize the deposition procedure. The second material is a methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) single crystal that have been characterized at the University of Bologna with surface photovoltage and photocurrent spectroscopies, as a function of the deposited dose of X-rays in order to monitor the induced effects of radiation. After the exposure to X-rays, the exciton binding energy, calculated from the surface photovoltage spectra, has been found to increase by 20 meV with respect to the not irradiated sample. A similar result has been found with the photocurrent spectroscopy. The reasons for the increase in binding energy is discussed and attributed to a change in polarizability of the single crystal. The recovery of the crystals has been registered as well and has shown that the material is able to return to the initial condition after just few hours from the last X-ray's deposition.