Improving Voc of Lead Halide Perovskites Solar Cells by Plasma Treatment

Aleš Vlk^a, Robert Hlaváč^a, Lucie Landová^a, Mykhailo Khytko^a, Swarnendu Banerjee^a, Julius Vida^b, Jiří Fujera^b^,^c, Mostafa Othman^d, Antonín Fejfar^a, Tomáš Homola^b, Christian Wolff^d, Martin Ledinský^a

^aInstitute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Cukrovarnicka 10, 16200 Prague, Czech Republic.

^bR&D centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications (CEPLANT), Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 267/2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

^cInstitute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, U Slovanky 2525/1a, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic

^dÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Institute of Electrical and Micro Engineering (IEM), Photovoltaics and Thin-Film Electronics Laboratory (PV-Lab), Rue de la Maladière 71b, 2002, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV25)

Roma, Italy, 2025 May 12th - 14th

Organizers: Filippo De Angelis, Francesca Brunetti and Claudia Barolo

Poster, Aleš Vlk, 087
Publication date: 17th February 2025

Recombination of electrons and holes at the defect states of perovskite absorber limits the power conversion efficiency of the organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells. Recently, with the help of in-situ PL and GIWAXS measurements, we have shown that the defects are formed mainly at the grain boundaries and surface.^1,2 Therefore, it is necessary to selectively passivate surface and grain boundaries. It was shown that the removal of thin surface layers using mechanical,³or laser⁴ polishing may improve the performance of perovskite thin films and PCEs.

In our work, we performed an initial study examining the effect of the DCSBD (the diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge) plasma on perovskite thin films. The sample was placed in the vicinity of the plasma and exposed to the plasma for different duration. Using in-situ photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, we found that the exposure of perovskite surface to plasma in nitrogen atmosphere affects the PL efficiency. After initial decrease of the PL intensity caused by surface defects created by exposure to plasma, the PL recovers, reaching 50-200 % of its original value. This means that the PT has a positive impact on defect densities in perovskite film. The plasma treatment results in improvement of Voc of 15 – 60 mV depending on the duration of the PT.

We believe this method has potential as an intermediate step before the deposition of a passivation layer on the perovskite. Additionally, the DCSBD plasma treatment is already used in different industrial applications and thus it is ready for use in large production lines.

References:

[1] Mrkyvkova, N.; Held, V.; Nádaždy, P.; Subair, R.; Majkova, E.; Jergel, M.; Vlk, A.; Ledinsky, M.; Kotlár, M.; Tian, J.; et al. Combined in Situ Photoluminescence and X-ray Scattering Reveals Defect Formation in Lead-Halide Perovskite Films. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2021, 12 (41), 10156–10162.

[2] Held, V.; Mrkyvkova, N.; Nádaždy, P.; Vegso, K.; Vlk, A.; Ledinský, M.; Jergel, M.; Chumakov, A.; Roth, S. V.; Schreiber, F.; et al. Evolution of Structure and Optoelectronic Properties During Halide Perovskite Vapor Deposition. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2022, 13 (51), 11905–11912.

[3] Chen, S.; Liu, Y.; Xiao, X.; Yu, Z.; Deng, Y.; Dai, X.; Ni, Z.; Huang, J. Identifying the Soft Nature of Defective Perovskite Surface Layer and Its Removal Using a Facile Mechanical Approach. Joule 2020, 4 (12), 2661–2674.

[4] Kedia, M.; Rai, M.; Phirke, H.; Aranda, C. A.; Das, C.; Chirvony, V.; Boehringer, S.; Kot, M.; Byranvand, M. M.; Flege, J. I.; et al. Light Makes Right: Laser Polishing for Surface Modification of Perovskite Solar Cells. ACS Energy Lett. 2023, 8 (6), 2603–2610.

Acknowledgements:

We acknowledge the use of the CzechNanoLab research infrastructure (LM2023051) and the CEPLANT research infrastructure (LM2023039) supported by the MEYS and project number 9F23003 supported by the MEYS. Furthermore, we acknowledge the support of Czech Science Foundation Project No. 24-11652S and to the VIPERLAB project funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme N°101006715.

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