Multimodal hard X-ray nanoprobe techniques for operando investigations of photovoltaic devices

Compared with conventional laboratory-scale X-ray techniques, synchrotron based X-rays with higher brilliance and higher coherence allow for the investigation of various material properties with high spatial resolution. The microscopic behaviours of materials can be examined using the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe beamline (I14) at Diamond Light Source, which provides a 50 nm focused beam and has been successfully employed to identify nanoscale optoelectronic features in energy-harvesting materials such as halide perovskites that exhibit local heterogeneity. We have developed X-ray beam-induced current (XBIC) measurement capability at I14 to address the growing demand for operando analysis in energy-harvesting research. Here, we demonstrate that X-ray fluorescence (XRF)/XBIC multimodal measurements are feasible at I14 and apply these newly implemented techniques to study perovskite solar cells with various additive concentrations to understand the effect of the additive on nanoscale optoelectronic performance. This expanded operando characterization capability offers the possibility of monitoring nanometre-scale compositional variations and corresponding optoelectronic features of actual solar cell configurations.