Insights into the adsorption of water and oxygen on the cubic CsPbBr3 surfaces: A first-principles study

The degradation mechanism of the all-inorganic perovskite solar cells in the ambient environment remains unclear. In this paper, water and oxygen molecule adsorptions on the all-inorganic perovskite (CsPbBr₃) surface are studied by density-functional theory calculations. In terms of the adsorption energy, the water molecules are more susceptible than the oxygen molecules to be adsorbed on the CsPbBr₃ surface. The water molecules can be adsorbed on both the CsBr- and PbBr-terminated surfaces, but the oxygen molecules tend to be selectively adsorbed on the CsBr-terminated surface instead of the PbBr-terminated one due to the significant adsorption energy difference. While the adsorbed water molecules only contribute deep states, the oxygen molecules introduce interfacial states inside the bandgap of the perovskite, which would significantly impact the chemical and transport properties of the perovskite. Therefore, special attention should be paid to reduce the oxygen concentration in the environment during the device fabrication process so as to improve the stability and performance of the CsPbBr₃-based devices.