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Morphological and opto-electrical studies of newly decorated nano organo-lead halide-based perovskite photovoltaics

  • Original Paper: Devices based on sol-gel or hybrid materials
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Abstract

In a world where conventional sources of energy are fast depleting, the quest for alternative energy sources may hold the key for the survival of humanity. In the present work, we have tried to generate energy from perovskite-based solar cells. In order to bring this idea into fruition, a newly developed nano perovskite material n-propyl ammonium lead chloride (C3H7NH3+PbCl3−) was chosen and fabricated via co-precipitation pathway. Here n-propyl amine (n-C3H7NH2), and hydrochloric acid and aqueous solution of Pb(CH3COO)23H2O were used as the starting precursors. Acetic acid was added to the solution at the final stage to maintain the optimum pH of the reaction medium and then the solution was gradually concentrated and cooled down to room temperature. Later, the synthesized material was layered on TiO2 film through spin-coating to generate the targeted device. The device then underwent systematic analysis using XRD, SEM, UV and photo conversion to get a transparent idea regarding its structural, electrical and optical properties. When experimentally applied, this newly developed perovskite-based solar cell has generated appreciable amount of energy conversion efficiency (η) and it is around 6.01%. Thus, it can be concluded that this material is an effective building block of efficient solar cells. This technology can be tried in large scale as a source of nonconventional energy in the upcoming days.

Highlights

  • A novel nano perovskite material n-propyl ammonium lead chloride (C3H7NH3+PbCl3−) was developed by co-precipitation method to fabricate a solar cell device.

  • The device then underwent systematic analysis using XRD, SEM, UV and photo conversion to get a transparent idea regarding its structural, electrical and optical properties.

  • The band gap of pure n-C3H7NH3PbCl3 is calculated to be 1.72 eV, which is good enough to show good photo-efficiency and that of the material on TiO2 surface is 1.50 eV. It proves that TiO2 surface coating beneath the perovskite material makes a change in its flat band potential and makes the material more photo-effective.

  • The newly decorated perovskite-based solar cell has generated appreciable amount (around 6.01 %) of energy conversion efficiency (η).

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Acknowledgements

RLV is thankful to Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU-DEMASTED) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Instrumentation Science, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Abhishek Dhar

  2. School of Science, P P Savani University, NH-8, GETCO, Near Biltech, Village: Dhamdod, Kosamba, Surat, 394125, Gujarat, India

    Mehul Khimani

  3. Department for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Rohit L. Vekariya

  4. Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Rohit L. Vekariya

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  1. Abhishek Dhar
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Correspondence to Rohit L. Vekariya.

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Dhar, A., Khimani, M. & Vekariya, R.L. Morphological and opto-electrical studies of newly decorated nano organo-lead halide-based perovskite photovoltaics. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 92, 548–553 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05120-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05120-1

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