Chlorine retention enables the indoor light harvesting of triple halide wide bandgap perovskites

Indoor photovoltaics are receiving tremendous attention due to the continuous development of the Internet of Things. The present study reports how the fast processing of the triple halide perovskite enables the retention of chlorine and the beneficial role of chlorine in enhancing the indoor light harvesting of a wide bandgap triple anion (TA) perovskite CH₃NH₃PbI_2.6Br_0.2Cl_0.2. The kinetics of chlorine incorporation/escape investigated by in situ grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering revealed the escape of chlorine after the first ten minutes of thermal annealing and the findings were corroborated with elemental analysis by wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The best-performing TA perovskite indoor-photovoltaic device achieved a steady-state power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.1% with an output power density of ∼75 μW cm−2 under 1000 lux indoor illumination (0.3 mW cm−2 irradiance). Improved crystalline quality, reduced density of trap states and longer carrier lifetime were achieved by the triple anion alloying method. The detrimental role of the commonly used hole transporting layer (HTL) of Spiro-MeOTAD under indoor lighting conditions leading to J–V hysteresis was also investigated, which could then be effectively suppressed by replacing Spiro-MeOTAD with undoped P3HT. The optimized TA perovskite indoor PV cells were then successfully used to wirelessly power a textile fiber-based temperature sensor. The results from the present study demonstrate a novel route to incorporate chlorine effectively and maximize the steady state power output from halide perovskite indoor photovoltaic devices and their promising potential for the IoT industry.