Journal of Materials Science

, Volume 53, Issue 6, pp 4378–4386 | Cite as

Enhanced stability of lead-free perovskite heterojunction for photovoltaic applications

Electronic materials
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

A low-cost and simple solution-based method is employed to prepare cesium tin tri-iodide (CsSnI3) thin films. The as-prepared dense CsSnI3 thin films are confirmed belong to orthorhombic structure (black-γ phase) of CsSnI3 (B-γ-CsSnI3), which deposited via spin coating technique at 3000 r/min. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results reveal that Sn is + 2 valence and no other states of Sn can be observed in the thin film. Hall effect measurements of the B-γ-CsSnI3 thin film indicate that it is a p-type direct band gap semiconductor with carrier density at room temperature of ~ 1019 cm−3 and a hole mobility increases from ~ 2 to 19 cm2 V−1s−1 with the film thickness increasing from 200 to 800 nm. Moreover, the n-type Cs2SnI6, a kind allotrope of CsSnI3, is deposited on B-γ-CsSnI3 thin film to form a p–n heterojunction, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of this lead-free device reaches 1.1%. Although the PCE is low, the Cs2SnI6 layer effectively prevents the degradation of the B-γ-CsSnI3 thin film, and 90% of the initial performance is retained after the device stored in ambient air for 20 h, which significantly enhanced the stability of lead-free B-γ-CsSnI3-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the International Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation between Governments Project of National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFE0111900); National R&D Program of China (2017YFA0207400); Scientific Research Plan Projects of Shaanxi Education Department (16JK1363); Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (2017JM5022); and Open Fund of Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Thin Films Technology and Optical Test (ZSKJ201706).

References

  1. 1.
    Cheng Z, Lin J (2010) Layered organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites: structure, optical properties, film preparation, patterning and templating engineering. Cryst Eng Comm 12:2646–2662CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Sadovnikov AV, Odintsov SA, Beginin EN, Sheshukova SE, Sharaevskii YuP, Nikitov SA (2017) Toward nonlinear magnonics: intensity-dependent spin-wave switching in insulating side-coupled magnetic stripes. Phys Rev B 96:144428-1–144428-10Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    Yang WS, Noh JH, Jeon NJ, Kim YC, Ryu S, Seo J, Seok SI (2015) High-performance photovoltaic perovskite layers fabricated through intramolecular exchange. Science 348:1234–1237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    Jun HN, Sang IH, Jin HH, Mandal TN, Sang S (2013) Chemical management for colorful, efficient, and stable inorganic-organic hybrid nanostructured solar cells. Nano Lett 13:1764–1769CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Lee MM, Teuscher J, Miyasaka T, Murakami TN, Snaith HJ (2012) Efficient hybrid solar cells based on meso-superstructured organometal halide perovskites. Science 338:643–647CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Ball JM, Lee MM, Hey A, Snaith HJ (2013) Low-temperature processed meso-superstructured to thin-film perovskite solar cells. Energy Environ Sci 6:1739–1743CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Burschka J, Pellet N, Moon SJ, Baker RH, Gao P, Nazeeruddin MK, Grätzel M (2013) Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells. Nature 499:316–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Kim HS, Lee JW, Yantara N, Boix PP, Kulkarni SA, Mhaisalkar S, Grätzel M, Park NG (2013) High efficiency solid-state sensitized solar cell-based on submicrometer rutile TiO2 nanorod and CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite sensitizer. Nano Lett 13:2412–2417CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Kim HS, Lee CR, Im JH, Lee KB, Moehl T, Marchioro A, Moon SJ, Baker RH, Yum JH, Moser JE, Grätzel M, Park NG (2012) Lead iodide perovskite sensitized all-solid-state submicron thin film mesoscopic solar cell with efficiency exceeding 9%. Sci Rep 2:1–7Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Liu M, Johnston MB, Snaith HJ (2013) Efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells by vapor deposition. Nature 501:395–398CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Heo JH, Im SH, Noh JH, Mandal TN, Lim CS, Chang JA, Lee YH, Kim HJ, Sarkar A, Nazeeruddin MdK, Grätzel M, Seok S (2013) Efficient inorganic–organic hybrid heterojunction solar cells containing perovskite compound and polymeric hole conductors. Nat Photon 7:486–491CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Hao F, Stoumpos CC, Cao DH, Chang RPH, Kanatzidis MG (2014) Lead-free solid-state organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells. Nat Photon 8:489–494CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Kumar MH, Dharani S, Leong WL, Boix PP, Prabhakar RR, Baikie T, Shi C, Ding H, Ramesh R, Asta M, Grätzel M, Mhaisalkar SG, Mathews N (2014) Lead-free halide perovskite solar cells with high photocurrents realized through vacancy modulation. Adv Mater 26:7122–7127CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Noel NK, Stranks SD, Abate A, Wehrenfennig C, Guarnera S, Haghighirad AA, Sadhanala A, Eperon GE, Pathak SK, Johnston MB, Petrozza A, Herz LM, Snaith HJ (2014) Lead-free organic–inorganic tin halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications. Energy Environ Sci 7:3061–3068CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Zhou Y, Garces HF, Senturk BS, Ortiz AL, Padture NP (2013) Room temperature “one-pot” solution synthesis of nanoscale CsSnI3 orthorhombic perovskite thin films and particles. Mater Lett 110:127–129CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Chung I, Song JH, Im J, Androulakis J, Malliakas CD, Li H, Freeman AJ, Kenney JT, Kanatzidis MG (2012) CsSnI3: semiconductor or metal? High electrical conductivity and strong near-infrared photoluminescence from a single material. High hole mobility and phase-transitions. J Am Chem Soc 134:8579–8587CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Shum K, Chen Z, Qureshi J, Yu C, Wang JJ, Pfenninger W, Vockic N, Midgley J, Kenney JT (2010) Synthesis and characterization of CsSnI3 thin films. Appl Phys Lett 96:221903-1–221903-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Dharani S, Mulmudi HK, Yantara N, Trang PTT, Park NG, Grätzel M, Mhaisalkar S, Mathews N, Boix PP (2014) High efficiency electrospun TiO2 nanofiber based hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite solar cell. Nanoscale 6:1675–1679CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Chen Z, Yu C, Shum K, Wang JJ, Pfenninger W, Vockic N, Midgley J, Kenney JT (2012) Photoluminescence study of polycrystalline CsSnI3 thin films: determination of exciton binding energy. J Lumin 132:345–349CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Zhang J, Yu C, Wang L, Li Y, Ren Y, Shum K (2014) Energy barrier at the N719-dye/CsSnI3 interface for photogenerated holes in dye-sensitized solar cells. Sci Rep 4:6954-1–6954-6Google Scholar
  21. 21.
    Wang N, Zhou Y, Ju M-G, Garces HF, Ding T, Pang S, Zeng XC, Padture NP, Sun XW (2106) Heterojunction-depleted lead-free perovskite solar cells with coarse-grained B-γ-CsSnI3 thin films. Adv Energy Mater 6:1601130CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Marshall KP, Walker M, Walton RI, Hatton RA (2016) Enhanced stability and efficiency in hole-transport-layer-free CsSnI3 perovskite photovoltaics. Nat Energy 1:16178.  https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.178 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    Lee B, Stoumpos CC, Zhou N, Hao F, Malliakas C, Yeh C-Y, Marks TJ, Kanatzidis MG, Chang RPH (2014) Air-stable molecular semiconducting iodosalts for solar cell applications: Cs2SnI6 as a hole conductor. J Am Chem Soc 136:15379–15385CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. 24.
    Qiu X, Cao B, Yuan S, Chen X, Qiu Z, Jiang Y, Ye Q, Wang H, Zeng H, Liu J, Kanatzidis MG (2017) From unstable CsSnI 3 to air-stable Cs2 SnI6: a lead-free perovskite solar cell light absorber with bandgap of 1.48 eV and high absorption coefficient. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 159:227–234CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    Qiu X, Jiang Y, Zhang H, Qiu Z, Yuan S, Wang P, Cao B (2016) Lead‐free mesoscopic Cs2SnI6 perovskite solar cells using different nanostructured ZnO nanorods as electron transport layers. Phys Status Solidi RRL 10:587–591CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    Marshall KP, Walton RI, Hatton RA (2015) Tin perovskite/fullerene planar layer photovoltaics: improving the efficiency and stability of lead-free devices. J Mater Chem A 3:11631–11640 Advance Article  https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ta02950c
  27. 27.
    Cheng S, He Y, Chen G, Cho EC, Conibeer G (2008) Influence of EDTA concentration on the structure and properties of SnS films prepared by electro-deposition. Surf Coat Technol 202:6070–6074CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. 28.
    Maughan AE, Ganose AM, Bordelon MM, Miller EM, Scanlon DO, Neilson JR (2016) Defect tolerance to intolerance in the vacancy-ordered double perovskite semiconductors Cs2SnI6 and Cs2TeI6. J Am Chem Soc 138:8453–8464CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Thin Films Technology and Optical TestXi’an Technological UniversityXi’ anChina
  2. 2.School of Optoelectronic EngineeringXi’an Technological UniversityXi’anChina
  3. 3.State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Film and Integrated DevicesUniversity of Electronic Science and TechnologyChengduChina

Personalised recommendations