Keya Amundsen

  • IRES 2025 Participant
  • Undergraduate Student
  • WELLESLEY COLLEGE
Profile Picture of Keya Amundsen
Biography

I am a rising senior at Wellesley College majoring in astrophysics, where I study perovskite composition and processing. I plan to pursue a career in experimental physics research, and enjoy the interdisciplinary nature of materials science topics, particularly their applications in addressing the challenges of renewable energy development. Growing up in rural New England, I enjoy spending free time outdoors, skiing, running or hiking. When the weather is less ideal, I can be found playing cello or knitting.

Undergraduate Advisor: Rebecca Belisle (Wellesley College)
IRES-Perovskites Host: Robert Schlatmann (Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin)

The Effect of Electrode Metal and Shadow Masking on Perovskite Solar Cell Outdoor Stability

One of the greatest challenges facing the commercialization of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is their long-term stability. A better understanding of device responses to long-term outdoor stresses is necessary for ensuring the success of PSCs. This project is focused on investigating the effects of shadow-masking and electrode metal on the outdoor stability of single-junction perovskite devices. The devices studied here (fabricated at NREL by Dr Fengjiu Yang) are based on perovskite with a bandgap of 1.53eV and have the architecture: indium tin oxide (ITO)/ self-assembled monolayer (SAM)/ perovskite/ passivation/ C60/ SnOx/ Metallization, half with gold and half with silver contacts. We encapsulated devices then installed them outdoors in Berlin, Germany under maximum power point tracking (MPPt). We accompanied outdoor tracking with a set of characterization techniques to clarify the degradation mechanisms. This included current density-voltage (JV) curves, electroluminescence (EL), photoluminescence (PL), fast-hysteresis measurements, Intensity-Modulated Photocurrent Spectroscopy (IMPS), and JV curves with varied light intensity. We observed an onset of degradation under outdoor exposure already in the first week of exposure. Although degradation rate varied between cells, cells with gold electrodes consistently showed faster degradation. Preliminary results point to increased ionic movement with ageing. The outdoor experiment will continue beyond the duration of the program.