SnO2-based electron transporting layer materials for perovskite solar cells: A review of recent progress

Chen, Yi-Chuan; Meng, Qingda; Zhang, Linrui; Han, Chang Bao; Gao, Hongli; Zhang, Yongzhe; Yan, Hui

doi:10.1016/j.jechem.2018.11.011

Cited by 154 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 168 publications

(352 reference statements)

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“…2 Graphite-and carbon black-based back electrodes Generally speaking, a PSC is based on a perovskite layer 48,49 sandwiched between an ETM and a HTM. 50,51 The ETM usually consists of TiO 2 or another n-type semiconductor anode, [52][53][54] while the back electrode is deposited on top of the HTM. [55][56][57] For efficient charge extraction, the valence band (VB) and the conduction band of the perovskite should lie below the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the HTM and under the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the ETM, respectively.…”

Section: Federico Bellamentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon-based materials for stable, cheaper and large-scale processable perovskite solar cells

Fagiolari

Bella

2019

Energy Environ. Sci.

258

188

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Almost ten years after their first use in the photovoltaic (PV) field, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are now hybrid devices that, in addition to having reached silicon performance, can accelerate the energy transition and boost the use of abundant elements for their manufacturing process. However, noble metals (in particular gold) represent the most typically used sources for back electrode fabrication, and this issue has been intensively considered by the research community in the last five years. This review shows how the most promising solution, considering also the need to develop a large-scale production process, is based on the use of carbon-based materials for the preparation of back electrodes. Graphite, carbon black, graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been proposed, functionalized and characterized, leading to laboratory-scale solar cells and modules capable of providing excellent efficiencies and ensuring stability greater than those of gold-based devices. Strengthened by these results and its hydrophobizing properties, carbon has also started to be used as an electron transporting material (ETM), with excellent results on both rigid and flexible substrates. This review discusses the major advances and the updated state-of-the-art in the carbon-based PSC scenario, keeping a solid trajectory where the accessibility, low cost, high electrical conductivity, chemical stability and controllable porosity of carbon are highlighted and exploited in the design of upscalable hybrid solar cells. Broader contextToday, more than 75% of the world energy demand is met by traditional, non-sustainable energy resources, mainly based on coal, natural gas and oil. Photovoltaics represents a concrete action to mitigate fossil fuel consumption, and among all the developed solar cells, perovskite-based ones have shown the highest increase in terms of efficiency (currently above 25%). Halide perovskites, as a family of new-generation semiconductor materials, are also exploitable for light-emitting devices, photodetectors and memristors, but their use in photovoltaics gives rise to outstanding performances. Here, photogenerated charges pass through electron/hole transporting materials and are transferred to the external circuit by front and back electrodes. While the front electrode is a common conductive glass, many issues are now under study concerning the back electrode, traditionally made of gold. Indeed, replacing this expensive metal with a much cheaper alternative is vital for realizing affordable solar technologies. Carbon, in its multiple forms, represents the winning solution and the scientific community has recently shown its large scale processability, its power as a stability booster and some interesting effects at the perovskite/electrode interface. This review shows how carbon is becoming the winning ingredient for the scaling up and worldwide diffusion of perovskite solar cells.

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Section: Federico Bellamentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon-based materials for stable, cheaper and large-scale processable perovskite solar cells

Fagiolari

Bella

2019

Energy Environ. Sci.

258

188

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“…To date, several inorganic semiconductor materials (Chen et al, 2019) have been applied in the PSCs as ETL by sputtering such as TiO2, SnO2 and ZnO (Kogo et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2018b;Qiu et al, 2018). Jin et al achieved a current density of 24.19 mA/cm 2 for PSCs by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering through modulating the dominated plane facet of TiO2, which contributes a high efficiency of 17.25% .…”

Section: H O D S D U E T O I T S S O P H I S T I C a T E D A P P L I mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, the planar n-i-p structured PSCs (Halvani Anaraki et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2018a) shows great promise due to their easier upscaling deposition of electron transport layers (ETLs) compared to mesostructured PSCs (Petrović et al, 2017). And there are lots of fabrication methods (Chen et al, 2019) have been reported to efficiently deposit thin ETL films, however, not all the methods are suitable for achieving uniform large area high quality thin films for large area perovskite solar modules (PSMs). For example, solution based preparation methods such as spin-coating (Yang et al, 2018b) and chemical bath deposition (Anaraki et al, 2016) suffer from necessary annealing process, and the quality of the sintered films are sensitive to the external environmental conditions including humidity (Li et al, 2018a;Bu et al, 2016), oxygen and, etc., which results in poor reproducibility and is fatal to industrial production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High performance perovskite sub-module with sputtered SnO2 electron transport layer

Bai

et al. 2019

Solar Energy

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Hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSC) have gained stupendous achievement in single/tandem solar cell, semitransparent solar cell and flexible devices. Aiming for potential commercialization of perovskite photovoltaic technology, up scalable processing is crucial for all function layers in PSC. Herein we present a study on room temperature magnetron sputtering of tin oxide electron transporting layer (ETL) and apply it in a large area PSC for low cost and continues manufacturing. The SnO2 sputtering targets with varied oxygen and deposition models are used. Specifically, the working gas ratio of Ar/O2 during the radio frequency sputtering process plays a crucial role to obtain optimized SnO2 film. The sputtered SnO2 films demonstrate similar morphological and crystalline properties, but significant varied defect states and carrier transportation roles in the PSC devices. With further modification of thickness of SnO2, the PSCs based on sputtered SnO2 ETL shows a champion efficiency of 18.20% in small area and an efficiency of 14.71% in sub-module with an aperture area of 16.07 cm 2 , which is the highest efficiency of perovskite sub module with sputtered ETLs.

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“…common ETL used in n-i-p PSCs which is typically annealed at high temperature (>450 °C), in a process that is flexible and also adaptable to 3D nanostructuring via a variety of approaches, including nanosphere templating to aid photon recycling [18]. Here, we used a SnO2 ETL due to its potential properties including high optical transparency, and the wider band gap compared to TiO2 ETL [19][20][21]. The SnO2 ETL is processed at low temperature (≤ 150 ᵒC) along with UV light treatment.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Temperature Solution-Processed Thin SnO₂/Al₂O₃Double Electron Transport Layers Toward 20% Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Dagar

Castro‐Hermosa

Lucarelli

et al. 2019

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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We present planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) incorporating thin SnO2/Al2O3 double electron transport layers between the perovskite and an indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom electrode. When measured under 1 sun illumination, we obtained a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.1% and a steady state efficiency of 17.8% for the best cell. These values were ~ 20-30% higher in relative terms than that of cells with SnO2 only (i.e. a maximum PCE of 15.3% and a steady state PCE of 14.9%). Insertion of the thin UV-irradiated solution-processed nanoparticle Al2O3 interlayer effectively enhanced the wettability of the electron transport layer, provided enhanced interface area, as well as a lower work function, leading to improved charge extraction. Incorporation of an Al2O3 layer between the perovskite and SnO2 layers also improved the rectification ratios of the diodes as well as both series and shunt resistances. Our devices are fabricated using fully solution-processed transport and active semiconducting layers processed at low temperatures (≤ 150 °C).

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SnO2-based electron transporting layer materials for perovskite solar cells: A review of recent progress

Cited by 154 publications

References 168 publications

Carbon-based materials for stable, cheaper and large-scale processable perovskite solar cells

Carbon-based materials for stable, cheaper and large-scale processable perovskite solar cells

High performance perovskite sub-module with sputtered SnO2 electron transport layer

Low-Temperature Solution-Processed Thin SnO₂/Al₂O₃Double Electron Transport Layers Toward 20% Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

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SnO2-based electron transporting layer materials for perovskite solar cells: A review of recent progress

Cited by 154 publications

References 168 publications

Carbon-based materials for stable, cheaper and large-scale processable perovskite solar cells

Carbon-based materials for stable, cheaper and large-scale processable perovskite solar cells

High performance perovskite sub-module with sputtered SnO2 electron transport layer

Low-Temperature Solution-Processed Thin SnO2/Al2O3Double Electron Transport Layers Toward 20% Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Low-Temperature Solution-Processed Thin SnO₂/Al₂O₃Double Electron Transport Layers Toward 20% Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells