Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV16)
Publication date: 28th March 2016
Since 2009 [1] the use of (CH3NH3)PbI3 and related perovskite materials in solar cells has attracted substantial attention due to their predicted low cost and high performance compared to other 3rd generation technologies. With efficiencies now exceeding 20% they are a strong contender to rival conventional photovoltaics whilst retaining the advantages of thin film technologies – solution processability and the potential of flexible roll-to-roll manufacturing. Currently there is an impressively expansive range of different processing techniques and materials associated with perovskite solar cells. However in order to realise the potential of low cost high efficiency modules there needs to be a strong focus on developing methods suitable for scale up.
Formation of the perovskite crystal structure from its precursors (usually CH3NH3I and PbI2) is critical in order to fabricate high performing devices. One of the most challenging aspects for solution processing is controlling the nucleation and crystallisation of the perovskite film. Deposition method, wet film thickness, solvent choice, concentration, substrate preparation, drying and annealing conditions all influence this. In this work we use hyphenated thermal analysis to understand the optimum temperatures for annealing these materials using scalable deposition techniques such as bar coating, slot die coating, and screen printing. The device architecture we focus on is (CH3NH3)PbI3 perovskite deposited via sequential deposition on a mesoporous TiO2 scaffold (described here [2]).
The hyphenated instrument set up (Perkin Elmer) used in this study consists of simultaneous thermal analysis (STA), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), gas chromatography (GC), mass spectroscopy (MS) and absorbed thermal desorption (ATD). Samples were heated in the STA and the evolved gases are analysed in real time using FT-IR spectroscopy (as previously shown here [3]) to identify the compounds lost during annealing. More detailed analysis was then possible by transferring to the GC-MS. This was combined other characterisation techniques such as XRD and SEM to observe the crystallisation, and the fabrication of devices. Using these methods we studied the annealing conditions for different perovskite solutions and characterised annealed films to determine the efficacy of annealing, any residual solvent and their thermal stability.
References:
[1] A. Kojima et al. “Organometal halide perovskites as visible-light sensitizers for photovoltaic cells”, Journal of the American Chemical Society 131 (2009) 6050–1
[2] J. Burschka et al. “Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells” Nature 499 (2013) 316-319
[3] A.E. Williams et al. “Processing for Photovoltaics: a Spectro-Thermal Evaluation” Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2 (2014) 19338-19346
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