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Structure and optical properties of Sb-doped CH3NH3PbI3: effect on perovskite solar cell performance

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Abstract

In this paper, we have shown that Sb has been doped into the light-absorbing methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) perovskite. We had anticipated that the introduction of antimony (Sb3+) as a dopant in perovskite would result in improved light-absorbing properties for use in photovoltaic cells, including longer carrier lifetimes and an ideal band gap. We used a simplified and cost-effective method to fabricate thin films of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite doped with antimony, which were deposited onto cleaned FTO substrates using a modified two-step spin-coating process. To evaluate the characteristics of these films, we utilized three different techniques: XRD, SEM, and UV-Vis spectroscopy to analyze their structural, optical, and dielectric properties. It was discovered that the optical band gap varied with Sb-doping concentration. The XRD data showed that there were no additional peaks, suggesting that Sb was able to partially replace Pb2+ successfully. However, the crystallinity increased with doping up to 1.0%, but decreased at higher concentrations. This finding aligns with the SEM morphology of the resulting films, which exhibited regular crystallites on a more even, compact, and complete surface. Finally, the IV curve showed improvement in the performance of the fabricated PSCs by increasing the Sb-doping ratio until 2.0% but decreased at the high concentration of 3.0%.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All authors are declared that all data and materials as well as software application or custom code support their published claims and comply with field standards.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2023R468), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for supporting this work.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt

    Ahmed M. Bolbol, M. Kamel & Nasser Y. Mostafa

  2. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Hassan Elshimy

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Omar H. Abd-Elkader

  4. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt

    Salah A. Shata

  5. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Arish University, Arish, 45511, Egypt

    Ahmed M. Tolba

  6. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, 44115, USA

    Magdy Ibrahim

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  1. Ahmed M. Bolbol
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by AMB, OHA, HE and SAS. All authors reviewed the data and provided suggestions. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AB and critically reviewed and commented on previous versions of the manuscript by [NYM] and [MK]. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ahmed M. Bolbol.

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Bolbol, A.M., Elshimy, H., Abd-Elkader, O.H. et al. Structure and optical properties of Sb-doped CH3NH3PbI3: effect on perovskite solar cell performance. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1489 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-10885-x

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