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Compact Titania Films by Spray Pyrolysis for Application as ETL in Perovskite Solar Cells

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Abstract

Hybrid perovskite-based solar cells are projected as a potentially viable photovoltaic (PV) technology for large-scale implementation. The electron transport layer (ETL) should be dense and pinhole-free to facilitate efficient electron collection and transport from the perovskite layer to the anode, which is very important for achieving high-performance solar cells. In this study, a compact TiO2 layer was synthesized by a scalable spray pyrolysis technique. The effect of deposition temperature on the transparency, microstructure, and bandgap of c-TiO2 film was studied. Pinhole-free nanocrystalline films having > 85% transparency with uniform coverage was obtained on spray pyrolysis at 400°C and annealing at 450°C. Usability of the deposited films as ETL in perovskite solar cells was tested by fabricating solar cells (FTO/c-TiO2/FA0.85MA0.15Pb(I0.85Br0.15)3/CuSCN/Au) using the deposited films and comparing their performance. Cell efficiency close to 11.75% with a fill factor of 69% was obtained in the cell fabricated using the films deposited at 400°C.

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  1. Department of Ceramic Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, 221005, India

    Sooraj Kumar, Asim Aftab & Md. Imteyaz Ahmad

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Kumar, S., Aftab, A. & Ahmad, M.I. Compact Titania Films by Spray Pyrolysis for Application as ETL in Perovskite Solar Cells. J. Electron. Mater. 49, 7159–7167 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08464-5

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