Seeding Agents in Metal Halide Perovskite Solar Cells: From Material to Mechanism

Abstract

Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been showing up in the commercial field, with an inspiring power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 26 % in the laboratory. The quality of perovskite films is still a bottleneck due to the random and fast crystallization of ionic perovskite materials. Seeding agent‐mediated crystallization has consistently been recognized as an efficient method for preparing bulk single crystals and high‐quality films. Herein, we summarized the seeding mechanism, characterization techniques, and seeding agents working in different locations during PSC device fabrication. This Review could further facilitate researchers with a deeper understanding of seeding agents and enhance more choices for seeding crystallization to improve the performance further and the device's large‐scale fabrication toward commercialization.

Growth methods' effect on the physical characteristics of CsPbBr3 single crystal

“…This guided growth occurring at significantly reduced temperatures, specifically 70 °C, serves to sustain a consistent rate of solute diffusion, culminating in the formation of SCs with exceptional crystallinity. 37…”

Impact of Low-Temperature Seed-Assisted Growth on the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of MAPbBr3 Single Crystals

“…This templated growth at a much lower temperature, i.e., 65 °C, helps to maintain a steady solute diffusion rate, yielding highly crystalline single crystals. 24 The full width at half-maximum (FWHM) analysis of each reflection provides the lattice strain of both crystals using the tangent formula (details in the Experimental Section). As expected, higher FWHM has been calculated for unseeded single crystals which, consequently, leads to higher lattice strain within them.…”

“…For seed-assisted growth, the seed crystal acts as a surface on which the dissolved solute can grow. This templated growth at a much lower temperature, i.e., 65 °C, helps to maintain a steady solute diffusion rate, yielding highly crystalline single crystals …”

Single‐Crystal Seeds Inducing the Crystallization of High‐Performance α‐FAPbI3 for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

“…According to the classical crystallization theory, adding SCSs would greatly change the growth kinetic of perovskite crystal. [ 24 ] These SCSs served as growth centers and their size would gradually increase ( Figure 2 a). When the SCSs radius ( R SCSs ) exceed the critical radius ( R c ), the perovskite crystallization would bypass the nucleation process and directly enter into the growth stage, indicating SCSC requires less energy ( ∆G SCSs < ∆G C ).…”