The organic metal halide perovskite material is capable of high throughput manufacturing via traditional deposition processes used in roll-to-roll, yet thermal annealing post deposition may require long ovens. We report rapid annealed perovskite thin films using intense pulsed light (IPL) to initiate a radiative thermal response that is enabled by an alkyl halide additive that collectively improves the performance of a device processed in an ambient environment from a baseline of 10 to 16.5% efficiency. Previous reports on CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 perovskite films using IPL processing achieved functional devices in milli-second time scales and are promising for high throughput manufacturing processes under ambient conditions. In this study, we found that the addition of diiodomethane (CH 2 I 2 ) as an additive to the methylammonium iodide (MAI)/lead iodide (PbI 2 ) precursor ink chemistry and subsequent IPL thermal annealing are inter-dependent. The concentration of CH 2 I 2 and IPL processing parameters have a direct effect on the surface morphology of the films and performance within a perovskite solar cell (PSC). The CH 2 I 2 dissociates under exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the IPL source liberating iodine ions in the film, influencing the perovskite formation and reducing the defect states. We anticipate that these results can be utilized to further develop different ink formulations using alkyl halides for the IPL technique to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells processed in ambient conditions.
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Vapor Deposition of Perovskite Precursor PbI 2 on Au and Graphite
Abstract The energy level alignment that occurs at the interfaces in planar-hetero structured perovskite photovoltaic devices strongly influences the charge transport across the interface, and thus plays a crucial role in overall device performance. To directly observe the energy level alignment requires pristine homogeneous surfaces that are free of contamination including adventitious carbon. Co-evaporation offers the ability to grow perovskite thin films in-situ, and the method involves thermally evaporating the perovskite precursors such as PbI 2 and CH 3 NH 3 I. Early reports have shown that the perovskite film formation and stoichiometry are problematic at ultralow coverages. In particular, it was reported that there was excessive PbI 2 and a deficiency in CH 3 NH 3 I. Using photoemission spectroscopy, we investigated the perovskite precursor PbI 2 on gold and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces. Results show that the nature of the surface and the deposition conditions can strongly influence the film formation. Excessive iodine observed in the initial evaporation stages appears to be substrate dependent, and this may influence the overall energy level alignment.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1903962
- PAR ID:
- 10149488
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- MRS Advances
- Volume:
- 5
- Issue:
- 8-9
- ISSN:
- 2059-8521
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 403 to 410
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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