Large-scale, low-temperature, conformable spray deposition of tin oxide films for perovskite solar cells

Babak Taheri^a, Emanuele Calabrò^a, Francesca De Rossi^a, Giulia Lucarelli^a, Fabio Matteocci^a, Diego Di Girolamo^b, Giorgio Cardone^c, Andrea Liscio^d, Aldo Di Carlo^a^,^e^,^f, Thomas M. Brown^a, Francesca Brunetti^a

^aCHOSE- Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy, Department of Electronics Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Via Giacomo Peroni, Roma, Italy

^bDepartment of Chemistry, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, Roma, Italy

^cPPG Italy Business Support SRL

^dIstituto dei sistemi complessi CNR

^eLASE–Laboratory for Advanced Solar Energy, National University of Science and Technology MISiS, Leninsky Avenue, 6, Moskva, Russian Federation

^fConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto di Struttura della Materia(CNR-ISM), Area di Ricerca di Tor Vergata, Institute for Structure of Matter, National Research Council (CNR-ISM),Rome,Italy, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, Roma, Italy

Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS)
Proceedings of Online nanoGe Fall Meeting 20 (OnlineNFM20)

#PerFun20. Perovskite I: Solar Cells and Related Optoelectronics

Online, Spain, 2020 October 20th - 23rd

Organizers: Mónica Lira-Cantú and Mohammad Nazeeruddin

Contributed talk, Babak Taheri, presentation 163
Publication date: 4th October 2020

Outstanding efficiency (up to 25.2% on glass[1], 19.5% on flexible substrates[2]), low cost, and processability from solution are key advantages of perovskite solar cells (PSC). This technology is rising as a promising candidate for building-integrated photovoltaics, space and automotive applications, and even foldable and lightweight devices for consumer electronics when deployed on flexible substrates[3].

Efforts have been made to up-scale the fabrication of PSC to produce large solar modules[4]: well-known techniques such as screen printing, blade- and slot-die coating, inkjet printing have been adapted and tested as possible manufacturing processes. We have focused on an automated spray coating technique[5], starting from the first fundamental layer for the standard n-i-p structure, the electron transport layer (ETL).

Herein, we thus present the development of uniform large-area (> 120 cm2) compact films of tin oxide nanoparticles (SnO2-NP) on rigid glass/ITO substrates via spray deposition, and we show their subsequent application as ETL in PSCs.

Our work investigated the effect of the spray deposition parameters (such as gas pressure, nozzle aperture, spray deposition velocity, flow rate, spray distance and spray cycle times) on the morphology and electro-optical properties of the SnO2 films, as well as the influence of the substrate temperature: given a set of deposition parameters, we found out that SnO2 layers sprayed at a lower temperature (25-30 °C) performed better as ETL in PSCs than those produced at higher temperatures (60-120°C), opening up to the application to flexible substrates.

Furthermore, PSCs endowed with SnO2 films, sprayed at low-temperature, performed as good as those with standard spin-coated films, delivering up to 16.8% efficiency under 1 sun illumination and demonstrating that automated spray coating at low temperature can be an effective strategy for PSC technology transfer from lab to industry to manufacture large-area devices, even on flexible substrates.

References:

[1] National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Best Research-Cell Efficiency Chart, Photovoltaic Research

[2] Huang, K. et al. High-Performance Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells via Precise Control of Electron Transport Layer. Adv. Energy Mater. 9, 1901419 (2019).

[3] Wojciechowski, K. et al. Industrial Opportunities and Challenges for Perovskite Photovoltaic Technology. Solar RRL 3(9), 1900144 (2019).

[4] Park, N.G. et al. Scalable fabrication and coating methods for perovskite solar cells and solar modules. Nature Reviews Materials 5, 333–350 (2020).

[5] Taheri, B. et al. Automated Scalable Spray Coating of SnO2 for the Fabrication of Low-Temperature Perovskite Solar Cells and Modules. Energy Tech. 8, 1901284 (2020).

Acknowledgements:

We acknowledge PPG Business Support Srl, Milan, Italy that has partially funded this research. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No763989 APOLO. This publication reflects only the author’s views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. A.D.C gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in the framework of Increase Competitiveness Program of NUST «MISiS» (№ К2-2019-13)

nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.

MATSUS

Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.

Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics

The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.

International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics

The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.