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Boosting optoelectronic performance of MAPbI3 perovskite solar cells via ethylammonium chloride additive engineering

通过乙胺盐酸盐添加剂工程提升MAPbI3钙钛矿太阳电池的光电性能

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Abstract

The quality of the perovskite light absorption layer plays a dynamic role in the photovoltaic properties of solar cells. The existing methods to prepare methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) films render substantial structural defect density, particularly at the grain boundaries and film surface, constituting a challenge that hinders the further optoelectronic enhancement of perovskite solar cells. Herein, a unique approach was introduced: using a simple ethylammonium chloride (EACl) additive in perovskite precursor mixture to produce high-quality MAPbI3 thin films. The results indicated that EACl could encourage perovskite crystal growth without experiencing the intermediate phase formation and would evaporate from the perovskite after annealing. Additionally, a gradient perovskite structure was achieved using this technique, which impressively enhanced the performance of the perovskite films. A high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.03% was achieved under the optimal amount of EACl, and the resultant efficient device could retain over 89% of the original PCE after aging for 1000 h at room temperature. This novel technique leads to a facile fabrication of high-quality and less-defect perovskite thin films for competent and stable devices.

摘要

钙钛矿光吸收层的质量对太阳电池的光伏性能有重要的影 响. 目前, 制备甲基铵基碘化铅钙钛矿(MAPbI3)的方法会产生大量缺陷态, 特别是在晶界和薄膜表面, 这些问题阻碍了钙钛矿太阳电池性能进一步提升. 本文介绍了一种采用乙胺盐酸盐(EACl)添加剂制备高质量MAPbI3的特殊方法, 发现EACl可以使得钙钛矿晶体不通过中间相形成, 并在退火后从钙钛矿中蒸发. 此外, 该方法还获得了梯度钙钛矿结构, 显著提高了钙钛矿薄膜的性能. 在最佳EACl用量下, 器件的光电转换效率(PCE)达到20.03%. 器件在室温老化 1000 h后仍能保持原有PCE的89%. 这一新方法可以简易制备高质量、 缺陷少的钙钛矿薄膜, 以生产更加稳定的器件.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFB1503202), the 111 Project (B16016), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51702096, U1705256 and 61904053), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2019MS026, 2019MS027 and 2020MS080).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-Film Solar Cells, North China Electric Power University, Bei**g, 102206, China

    Muhammad Mateen, Zulqarnain Arain, Xuepeng Liu  (刘雪朋), Atif Iqbal, **anfu Zhang  (张先付), Cheng Liu  (刘成), Qin Chen  (陈钦), Shuang Ma  (马爽), Yong Ding  (丁勇), Molang Cai  (蔡墨朗) & Songyuan Dai  (戴松元)

  2. State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Bei**g, 102206, China

    Yong Ding  (丁勇), Molang Cai  (蔡墨朗) & Songyuan Dai  (戴松元)

  3. Energy Systems Engineering Department, Sukkur IBA University, Sukkur, 65200, Pakistan

    Zulqarnain Arain

  4. College of Science, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang, 050018, China

    Yingke Ren  (任英科)

Authors
  1. Muhammad Mateen
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  2. Zulqarnain Arain
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  7. Cheng Liu  (刘成)
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  9. Shuang Ma  (马爽)
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  10. Yong Ding  (丁勇)
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  11. Molang Cai  (蔡墨朗)
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  12. Songyuan Dai  (戴松元)
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Contributions

Author contributions Mateen M performed the main experiments and wrote the paper; Ren Y, Zhang X, Iqbal A, Liu C, Chen Q, Ma S, and Cai M helped to fabricate the devices, analyze the data; Arain Z, Liu X and Ding Y helped to conceive the framework of this paper and review the manuscript; Dai S supervised the project. All authors contributed to the general discussion about the work.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xuepeng Liu  (刘雪朋), Yong Ding  (丁勇) or Songyuan Dai  (戴松元).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Muhammad Mateen obtained his Master’s degree from the Shah Abdul Latif University. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in North China Electric Power University (NCEPU) under the supervision of Prof. Songyuan Dai. His research interests mainly focus on the perovskite solar cells.

Xuepeng Liu received his PhD from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2018. He is a lecture in NCEPU now. His research interests focus on perovskite solar cells.

Yong Ding received his PhD degree from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2016. After graduation, he became a lecturer in NCEPU. His research interests focus on the 2D perovskite-based photoelectric devices, including perovskite solar cells and light-emitting diodes.

Songyuan Dai is a professor in NCEPU. He obtained his BSc degree in physics from Anhui Normal University in 1987, and MSc and PhD degrees in plasma physics from the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991 and 2001, respectively. His research interests mainly focus on the next-generation solar cells including dye-sensitized solar cells, quantum dot solar cells and perovskite solar cells.

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Mateen, M., Arain, Z., Liu, X. et al. Boosting optoelectronic performance of MAPbI3 perovskite solar cells via ethylammonium chloride additive engineering. Sci. China Mater. 63, 2477–2486 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1383-3

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