Publication date: 15th December 2025
The dual electronic-ionic nature of perovskite materials has greatly complicated the characterisation of perovskite devices; impacting almost all 'standard' electrochemical characterisation techniques. For example, when ions move on the timescale of current-voltage measurements, they can act to modify carrier recombination rates and carrier extraction, influencing the shape of the response. Ions can also modify fast measurements, where the ‘frozen in’ ion distribution impacts the electronic response of the device. It is widely assumed in the literature that the presence of these mobile ions is bad for e.g. perovskite solar cells, whether leading to field screening that lowers efficiency or contributing to material degradation. In this talk I will consider whether ions are always bad for our devices, or whether they can also be beneficial. I will introduce our electrochemical measurements where we use ions as diagnostic probes inside perovskite solar cells. Finally, the talk will look at whether we can design devices differently to better take advantage of the intrinsic ionic properties of perovskite materials.
