Colloidal Perovskite Nanomaterials Processing and Photovoltaic Loss Analysis

Fedros Galatopoulos^a, Paris Papagiorgis^b, Alexandra Chrusou^a, Caterina Bernasconi^c, Constantinos Christodoulou^a, Maryna Bodnarchuk^d, Maksym Kovalenko^c^,^d, Grigorios Itskos^b, Stelios Choulis^a

^a1Molecular Electronics and Photonics Research Unit, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology

^bDepartment of Physics, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, University of Cyprus, Nicosia

^cInstitute of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland

^dLaboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics, Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.

Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS)
Proceedings of nanoGe Spring Meeting 2022 (NSM22)

#PerNC22. Colloidal Metal Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals: From Synthesis to Applications

Online, Spain, 2022 March 7th - 11th

Organizers: Maksym Kovalenko, Maryna Bodnarchuk and Osman Bakr

, Fedros Galatopoulos, presentation 368
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nsm.2022.368
Publication date: 7th February 2022

In recent years, perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) have attracted research interest for various optoelectronic applications that include light emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells ¹. Several inherent material properties are desirable for both applications such as high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), strong light absorption as well as the minimization of radiative recombination losses ² ³. Furthermore, PNCs show relatively high defect tolerance and tunability of the band gap by controlling the size and composition of the nanocrystals ⁴ ⁵. In this work we compare photovoltaic (PV) devices based on (CH₂(NH₂))₂PbI₃ (FAPbI₃) and CsPbI₃PNCs capped by oleic acid ligands. Specifically, we evaluate the influence of the processing conditions (ambient versus inert atmosphere and the effect of ligand washing (LW) steps on the photovoltaic (PV) performance of cells based on FAPbI₃ and CsPbI₃ PNCs. FaPbI₃ PNCs shows increase in grain size upon the introduction of a ligand washing (LW) step based on formamidinium iodide (FAI) salt in EtAc due to ligand desorption and subsequent agglomeration of the NCs. Photovoltaic devices based on FAPbI₃ PNCs provided a maximum PCE of 1.93% with the introduction of 3 LW steps with formamidinium iodide (FA) dissolved in ethyl acetate (EtAc) while CsPbI₃ photovoltaic devices have provided PCE of 1.83 % using the same LW steps. The main photovoltaic performance limitation in both cases is the low J_sc and FF due to the high series resistance (R_s) which indicates oleic acid ligand washing step limitations. The long oleic acid inhibit carrier transport within the NCs and therefore proper LW is essential to ensure good PV performance ⁶. It was found that photovoltaic devices based on FAPbI₃ PNCs show lower PCE when processed in ambient conditions compared to inert conditions, while devices based on CsPbI₃ PNCs show similar PCE in both cases. It is important to note that although photovoltaic devices based on CsPbI₃ PNCs show similar PCEs in both inert and ambient conditions, the photovoltaic devices that were fabricated in ambient conditions are less reproducible compare to the ones processed in inert atmosphere.

References:

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[2] Protesescu, L. et al. Nanocrystals of Cesium Lead Halide Perovskites (CsPbX 3 , X = Cl, Br, and I): Novel Optoelectronic Materials Showing Bright Emission with Wide Color Gamut. Nano Lett. 15, 3692–3696 (2015).

[3] Li, X. et al. CsPbX 3 Quantum Dots for Lighting and Displays: Room-Temperature Synthesis, Photoluminescence Superiorities, Underlying Origins and White Light-Emitting Diodes. Adv. Funct. Mater. 26, 2435–2445 (2016).

[4] Song, J. et al. Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Inorganic Perovskite Cesium Lead Halides (CsPbX 3 ). Adv. Mater. 27, 7162–7167 (2015).

[5] Dirin, D. N. et al. Harnessing Defect-Tolerance at the Nanoscale: Highly Luminescent Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals in Mesoporous Silica Matrixes. Nano Lett. 16, 5866–5874 (2016).

[6] Sanehira, E. M. et al. Enhanced mobility CsPbI 3 quantum dot arrays for record-efficiency, high-voltage photovoltaic cells. Sci. Adv. 3, (2017).

Acknowledgements:

This work was financially supported by the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus under the “NEW STRATEGIC INFRASTRUCTURE UNITS-YOUNG SCIENTISTS” Programme (Grant Agreement No. “INFRASTRUCTURES/1216/0004”, Acronym “NANOSONICS”).

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