The Role of Oxygen in the Degradation of Methylammonium Lead Trihalide Perovskite Photoactive Layers

Abstract In this paper we report on the influence of light and oxygen on the stability of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 perovskite‐based photoactive layers. When exposed to both light and dry air the mp‐Al 2 O 3 /CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 photoactive layers rapidly decompose yielding methylamine, PbI 2 , and I 2 as products. We show that this degradation is initiated by the reaction of superoxide (O 2 − ) with the methylammonium moiety of the perovskite absorber. Fluorescent molecular probe studies indicate that the O 2 − species is generated by the reaction of photoexcited electrons in the perovskite and molecular oxygen. We show that the yield of O 2 − generation is significantly reduced when the mp‐Al 2 O 3 film is replaced with an mp‐TiO 2 electron extraction and transport layer. The present findings suggest that replacing the methylammonium component in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 to a species without acid protons could improve tolerance to oxygen and enhance stability.