Understanding the degradation factors, mechanism and initiatives for highly efficient perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are intriguing and viable challengers among all solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies worldwide due to their high conversion efficiency and simple manufacturing procedure. PSCs are currently thought to be very promising for the future generation of PV technology, which can make it easier to solving the rising energy demand. However, commercial mass production of PSCs is still far away due to their stability, and eco-friendly material issues. Extrinsic degradation is one of the vital issues for PSCs and various approaches are proposed and developed by researchers towards improve the quality and the stability of perovskite and other active materials for a PSC with longer lifetime. In this article, we conduct a systematic study to identify the major intrinsic and extrinsic degradation factors, and the degradation mechanism of PSCs. We investigate the potential approaches related to improving the stability and performance of the PSCs including encapsulation, interfacial layer engineering, additive engineering, ion engineering, and fabrication techniques. We also briefly point out the recent promising approaches to improve stability and power conversion efficiency (PCE) under various harsh conditions. This review will provide a better insight into the present scenario of the PSC as well.