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New insights into active-area-dependent performance of hybrid perovskite solar cells

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Abstract

The morphology of hybrid perovskite thin films depends strongly on the processing parameters due to its complex crystallization kinetics from a solution to solid perovskite halide phase. It is also profoundly sensitive to the device area of the deposited thin film, and hence reproducible photoconversion efficiency (PCE) remained a bottleneck for the fabrication of efficient photovoltaic devices having large active area. The present work focuses on the investigations of the relationship between perovskite ink concentration-dependent quality of the perovskite overlayer and PCE of the perovskite solar cells (PSC) while scaling-up process. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy images revealed that the surface coverage of perovskite overlayer depends on the concentration of perovskite solution and device area. The active-area-dependent current density (J)-voltage (V) and external quantum efficiency measurements identify morphology-dependent variation in charge-transport/recombination pathways. We confirmed that among different precursor concentrations, 40 wt% perovskite ink is suitable to produce uniform perovskite overlayer over 1 cm2. As a result, highly reproducible PCE ~ 13% has been achieved for the PSC having an active area of 1 cm2. Overall, our findings significantly provide new insights into the active-area-dependent PCE of PSC.

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Acknowledgements

The author A. D. Sheikh would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, for the research grant and INSPIRE Faculty Award No. DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/002601.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nanoscience and Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, M.S, India

    Arif D. Sheikh, Akhilesh P. Patil & Pramod S. Patil

  2. Polymer Energy Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea

    Akhilesh P. Patil, Sawanta S. Mali & Chang K. Hong

  3. Department of Physics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, M.S, India

    Pramod S. Patil

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  1. Arif D. Sheikh
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  2. Akhilesh P. Patil
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Correspondence to Arif D. Sheikh.

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Sheikh, A.D., Patil, A.P., Mali, S.S. et al. New insights into active-area-dependent performance of hybrid perovskite solar cells. J Mater Sci 54, 10825–10835 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03655-w

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