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Oriented inorganic perovskite absorbers processed by colloidal-phase fumigation

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Abstract

Inorganic perovskite absorbers are promising candidates for next-generation photovoltaics due to their good thermal and light stabilities. Halide-mixed CsPbIxBr3−x reach a compromise between its structural tolerance and absorption edge, yet the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the asfabricated cells can be considerably limited by the nonideal quality of solution-processed films. Here we demonstrated a fumigation strategy on colloidal perovskite films using dual-O-donor ethyl acetate (EA). By in-situ monitoring this stage with grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering technology, we reveal that EA fumigation would impose ripening barrier on colloidal inorganic perovskites and hence slow down the nucleation rate, leading to an intermediate state for processing high-crystallinity and oriented perovskite films with improved photophysical properties. An optimized PCE of 16.6% was finally yielded upon wide-bandgap (1.9 eV) perovskite absorber.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Ten Thousand Talent Program for Young Top-notch Talent, the National Natural Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars (52022030), the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (51725201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51972111 and 51902185), the International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51920105003), the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (E00014), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JKD012016025 and JKD012016022), and Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hierarchical Nanomaterials (18DZ2252400). The authors thank the Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry. The authors also thank beamline BL14B1 of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility for providing the beamtime.

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  1. These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hierarchical Nanomaterials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Ziren Zhou, Hong Wei Qiao, Jin Xie, Yiheng Shi, Zeqing Lin, Bing Ge, Mengjiong Chen, Shuang Yang, Yu Hou & Hua Gui Yang

  2. Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, China

    Xiaolong Li

  3. Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Chen Lin & Yi Zheng Jin

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  1. Ziren Zhou
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  2. Hong Wei Qiao
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  3. Xiaolong Li
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  4. Chen Lin
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Contributions

Zhou Z designed and performed the experiments; Qiao HW, Xie J, Shi Y, Lin Z, Ge B and Chen M helped revise the paper; Li X helped perform the GIWAXS characterization; Lin C and Jin YZ helped perform the AFM/KPFM measurements; Yang S, Hou Y and Yang HG provided all supports needed in this work. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shuang Yang or Yu Hou.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Ziren Zhou received his BS from Xiangtan University in 2017. He is currently a PhD candidate at the East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) under the supervision of Prof. Hua Gui Yang. His research interest focuses on the design and synthesis of functional materials for perovskite-based photovoltaics.

Hong Wei Qiao received her PhD from ECUST in 2020. Her research interest focuses on the design, synthesis and characterization of new semiconductor materials’ thin films, and looking for their applications in solar cells.

Shuang Yang received his BS from Tsingtao University of Science and Technology in 2011 and completed his PhD in 2016 from ECUST. He then conducted postdoctoral research at Nanyang Technological University and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Currently, he is a professor at ECUST. His research focuses on the chemistry and physics of semiconducting materials and opto-electrical devices.

Yu Hou completed his BS and PhD from ECUST in 2010 and 2015, respectively. From 2015 to 2017, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at ECUST and then joined Griffith University as a visiting scholar. After finishing his visiting scholar training, he came back to ECUST at the end of 2017 and now is a professor at ECUST. His research focuses on novel functional materials of thin film-based solar devices and aims at developing new semiconductor absorbers and cell structures towards next-generation photovoltaic technology.

Hua Gui Yang completed his PhD from the National University of Singapore in 2005. He joined the University of Queensland in 2007 as a postdoctoral research fellow. After finishing his postdoctoral training, he came back to China and took up a professor position at ECUST at the end of 2008. His research interests are focused on the rational design and fabrication of functional materials for solar-energy conversion.

Ziren Zhou received his BS from Xiangtan University in 2017. He is currently a PhD candidate at the East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) under the supervision of Prof. Hua Gui Yang. His research interest focuses on the design and synthesis of functional materials for perovskite-based photovoltaics.

Hong Wei Qiao received her PhD from ECUST in 2020. Her research interest focuses on the design, synthesis and characterization of new semiconductor materials’ thin films, and looking for their applications in solar cells.

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Zhou, Z., Qiao, H.W., Li, X. et al. Oriented inorganic perovskite absorbers processed by colloidal-phase fumigation. Sci. China Mater. 64, 2421–2429 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-1653-y

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