Publication date: 15th December 2025
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have recently reached power conversion efficiencies above 26%, but their long-term stability under realistic operation is still a major bottleneck for commercialization. Under outdoor conditions, devices repeatedly switch between light and dark. During these phases, partial recovery can accompany degradation, yet the physical mechanisms, especially in the dark, and in their interplay with light-induced processes, remain poorly understood [1,2].
In this work, we analyze aging data from different indoor ISOS tests using physics-based device simulations to study recovery mechanisms in PSCs under dark and light conditions, with a focus on key stability challenges in metal halide perovskites. A one-dimensional optoelectronic model couples optical transfer-matrix calculations with drift-diffusion transport. This is used to simulate JV characteristics close to experimental ones via a genetic algorithm that generates ensembles of parameter sets consistent with the initial device performance. Starting from these ensembles, we simulate recovery and degradation pathways by systematically varying material properties, such as carrier mobilities and defect densities, and track their signatures in open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current and fill factor.
The evolution of these electrical parameters is analyzed in a novel correlation-space representation, which enables a direct comparison between experimental trajectories and simulated mechanisms [3]. Applying this framework to recovery intervals identified in dark-light cycling data and to protocols under continuous illumination, we obtain insights on reversible and irreversible processes in the devices. Preliminary results highlight the role of deep defects in the perovskite absorber and of doping in the transport layers in leading both degradation and recovery. Some of the explored mechanisms act in a reversible way, meaning that the same underlying change can drive degradation in one phase and partial recovery in another. The proposed methodology offers a physics-based approach to screen feasible mechanisms behind signatures of instability and to guide experimental efforts aimed at improving the operational stability of PSCs.
This work was carried out within the Institut Photovoltaïque d’Île-de-France (IPVF). The authors acknowledge support from the French Government under the Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir (ANR-IEED-002-01). We also thank our colleagues at IPVF, for the fabrication and characterization of the simulated devices, and the fruitful discussions and technical assistance during experiments and simulations.
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