In-situ Growth of Conformal SnO2 Layers for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

doi:10.15541/jim20240202

Abstract

Abstract:

Significant progress has recently been made in enhancing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The electron transport layer (ETL), as an essential component of PSCs, significantly influences the performance of devices. Traditional spin-coating method for preparing the ETL fails to fully cover the cusp of FTO transparent conductive glass substrate, leading to direct contact between perovskite film and FTO substrate, which induces charge recombination and reduces the performance of PSCs. To address this issue, an in-situ growth method was proposed to prepare conformal SnO₂ films on FTO glass substrates in this study. The resulting SnO₂ films are not only dense and uniform, fully covering the cusp of the FTO glass substrates and reducing the contact area between the FTO substrates and the perovskite films, but also facilitating the formation of perovskite films with large grain sizes. Moreover, the conformal SnO₂ films can improve the charge extraction at the SnO₂/perovskite interface, reduce the trap density and trap-assisted recombination in PSCs, and thus enhance the PCE of PSCs. Through comparative experiments, it is found that the PSCs with in-situ grown SnO₂ films show an improved PCE of 21.97%, which significantly increased compared to that with spin-coated SnO₂ films (20.93%). All above data demonstrate that the as-prepared SnO₂ film can serve as an ideal ETL. It is worth mentioning that this method avoids the use of corrosive hydrochloric acid and toxic thioglycolic acid, and it can also be extended to ITO flexible transparent conductive substrates in the future.

Key words: perovskite solar cell, conformal SnO₂ film, in-situ growth

CLC Number:

TQ174

LIU Suolan, LUAN Fuyuan, WU Zihua, SHOU Chunhui, XIE Huaqing, YANG Songwang. In-situ Growth of Conformal SnO₂ Layers for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2024, 39(12): 1397-1403.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 SEM, AFM morphologies, and transmittance of FTO glass substrate, SC SnO2 and IG SnO2 films (a-c) Top-view SEM images of (a) FTO glass substrate, (b) SC SnO2 and (c) IG SnO2 films; (d, e) Cross-sectional SEM images of (d) SC SnO2 and (e) IG SnO2 films; (f) Transmittance spectra of SC SnO2, IG SnO2 films and FTO glass substrate; (g-i) AFM images of (g) FTO glass substrate, (h) SC SnO2 and (i) IG SnO2 films with insets showing the corresponding 3D images

Fig. 2 SEM morphologies, photoluminescence properties, and grain size distributions of perovskite films (a, b) Cross-sectional SEM images of perovskite films deposited on (a) SC SnO2 and (b) IG SnO2 films; (c) Steady-state PL spectra of perovskite films deposited on SC SnO2 and IG SnO2 films; (d, e) Top-view SEM images of perovskite films deposited on (d) SC SnO2 and (e) IG SnO2 films; (f) Grain size distribution histograms of perovskite films corresponding to (d, e)

Photovoltaic performance of PSCs based on SC SnO2 and IG SnO2 films (a) J-V curves; (b) IPCE spectra; (c-f) Statistical distributions of (c) PCE, (d) VOC, (e) JSC, and (f) FF; (g) TPC decay curves; (h) TPV decay curves; (i) VOC dependent curves of the light intensity

Fig. 4 Schematic illustration of the growth of SnO2 and perovskite layer

Table S1 Photovoltaic parameters of the perovskite solar cells

Sample	V_OC/V	J_SC/(mA·m^-2)	FF/%	PCE/%
SC SnO₂	1.0950±0.0165	24.910±0.156	73.650±1.278	20.080±0.376
IG SnO₂	1.1170±0.0126	25.060±0.079	76.650±0.809	21.450±0.321

Table S2 Fitting parameters of the TPC and TPV curves

Curve	Parameter	SC SnO₂	IG SnO₂
TPC	τ/μs	7.45	4.23
TPV	A₁	0.586	0.617
	τ₁/ms	0.232	0.094
	A₂	0.244	0.197
	τ₂/ms	1.548	1.539
	τ_avg/ms	1.199	1.307

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In-situ Growth of Conformal SnO₂ Layers for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

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