Manipulating Crystallization of Organolead Mixed-Halide Thin Films in Antisolvent Baths for Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Jan 27;8(3):2232-7. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b10987. Epub 2016 Jan 13.

Abstract

Wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells (PSCs) based on organolead (I, Br)-mixed halide perovskites (e.g., MAPbI2Br and MAPbIBr2 perovskite with bandgaps of 1.77 and 2.05 eV, respectively) are considered as promising low-cost alternatives for application in tandem or multijunction photovoltaics (PVs). Here, we demonstrate that manipulating the crystallization behavior of (I, Br)-mixed halide perovskites in antisolvent bath is critical for the formation of smooth, dense thin films of these perovskites. Since the growth of perovskite grains from a precursor solution tends to be more rapid with increasing Br content, further enhancement in the nucleation rate becomes necessary for the effective decoupling of the nucleation and the crystal-growth stages in Br-rich perovskites. This is enabled by introducing simple stirring during antisolvent-bathing, which induces enhanced advection transport of the extracted precursor-solvent into the bath environment. Consequently, wide-bandgap planar PSCs fabricated using these high quality mixed-halide perovskite thin films, Br-rich MAPbIBr2, in particular, show enhanced PV performance.

Keywords: antisolvent−solvent extraction; grain growth; nucleation; solar cells; wide-bandgap perovskite.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.