Concerted regulation on vertical orientation and film quality of two-dimensional ruddlesden-popper perovskite layer for efficient solar cells

Recently,the two-dimensional(2D)ruddlesden-popper(RPP)perovskite has been successfully attracting great attention owing to their excellent electronic property and superior ambient stability.But 2D perovskite solar cells(PVSCs)with insulating large cations show a worse performance than three-dimensional(3D)PVSCs in general because of the worse charge transportation.In this work,dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO)and KI were incorporated simultaneously to produce a synergistic effect on both film quality and orientation of 2D perovskite.With this strategy,a cavity-free 2D perovskite film was formed with vertically oriented crystal,and high quality film was obtained with decreased defects and increased crystallinity.Besides,profitable multiple phases were obtained for better spontaneous carrier separation and transportation.The 2D PVSCs based on(PEA)2(MA)n−1PbnI3n+1(n=5)delivered a higher power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 13.4%.In addition,the perovskite with KI and DMSO contained more stable low-dimension phase at the bottom of perovskite film,which could act as a barrier to prevent moisture from further eroding internal perovskites.The optimized 2D PVSCs remained 90%of the PCE after being exposed in air(50%–60%humidity,room temperature)with a continuous illumination for 300 h.

Additives in metal halide perovskite films and their applications in solar cells

The booming growth of organic-inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskite solar cells have made this promising photovoltaic technology to leap towards commercialization.One of the most important issues for the evolution from research to practical application of this technology is to achieve high-throughput manufacturing of large-scale perovskite solar modules.In particular,realization of scalable fabrication of large-area perovskite films is one of the essential steps.During the past ten years,a great number of approaches have been developed to deposit high quality perovskite films,to which additives are introduced during the fabrication process of perovskite layers in terms of the perovskite grain growth control,defect reduction,stability enhancement,etc.Herein,we first review the recent progress on additives during the fabrication of large area perovskite films for large scale perovskite solar cells and modules.We then focus on a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the roles of additives for perovskite grain growth control,defects reduction,and stability enhancement.Further advancement of the scalable fabrication of high-quality perovskite films and solar cells using additives to further develop large area,stable perovskite solar cells are discussed.

Fabrication and Modification Strategies of Metal Halide Perovskite Absorbers

Due to the long carrier lifetime,high carrier mobility,and high absorption coefficient of perovskite materials,the power conversion efficiency(PCE)of perovskite solar cells(PSCs)has increased from 3.8%in 2009 to 25.7%in 2021,which have already surpassed the PCE of thin-film solar cells and closes to the efficiency of Si-based photovoltaics(26.7%).Therefore,PSCs have become a promising clean energy technology for commercialization.However,the low defect formation energy of perovskite leads to a higher defect density than other conventional photovoltaic materials.It results in severe non-radiative recombination,limiting its further development and the commercialization.In this review,we summarize the mechanism and strategies for high-quality perovskite absorber fabrications to minimize the bulk and surface/interface defects of halide perovskite,including film quality development and interface modification.Strategies are proposed for further promoting the film quality and the corresponding device performance.Finally,we highlight the challenges that need to be overcome to control over the defect properties of halide perovskite.

A methylammonium iodide healing method for CH_(3)NH_(3)PbI_(3) perovskite solar cells with high fill factor over 80%

Repressing the thermal decomposition during the process of heat treatment plays an indispensable part in the preparation of perovskite films.Here,a methylammonium iodide healing method was applied to prevent the volatilization of the organic component inside the perovskite structure during the heat treatment.High-quality CH_(3)NH_(3)PbI_(3) film with a much larger grain size over 800 nm was successfully fabricated via this healing method.Besides,the absorption and photoluminescence intensity were also both improved.Finally,the best power conversion efficiency of 18.89%with a fill factor over 80%was realized in an n-i-p configuration while possessing outstanding stability.This work suggests that methylammonium iodide healing method is a reliable way to promote crystal growth and improve the photovoltaic performance and humidity stability of the CH_(3)NH_(3)PbI_(3) solar cells.

Thickness modulation effect of CeO_2 layer for YBCO films grown by pulsed laser deposition

CeO2 film plays an essential role in nucleation and growth of YBa2 Cu3 O（7-x）（YBCO） films. In this work,the dependence of superconducting properties of YBCO on CeO2 films with different thicknesses was investigated,in order to achieve fabrication of high-performance YBCO coated conductors in industrial scale. The crystalline structure and morphology of CeO2 films with thickness ranging from 21 to 563 nm were systematically characterized by means of X-ray diffraction（XRD）, atomic force microscope（AFM） and reflection high-energy electron diffraction（RHEED）. Additional focus was addressed on evolution of the surface quality of CeO2 films with thickness increasing. The results show that at the optimal thickness of 221 nm, CeO2 film exhibits sharp in-plane and out-of-plane texture with full width of half maximum（FWHM） values of 5.9° and 1.8°, respectively, and smooth surface with a mean root-mean-square（RMS） roughness value as low as 0.6 nm. Combing RHEED and transmission electron microscope（TEM） cross-sectional analysis, it is found that nucleation and growth of CeO2 films at early stage remain in island growth mode with rougher surface,while further increasing the thickness beyond the optimal thickness leads to weak surface quality, consequently resulting in degradation of superconductor layers deposited subsequently. Eventually, a critical current density（Jc） as high as 4.6×10-6 A·cm-（-2）（77 K, self-field） is achieved on a YBCO film on a thickness-modulated CeO2/MgO/Y2 O3/Al2 O3/C276 architecture, demonstrating the advantages of CeO2 films as buffer layer in high-throughput manufacture of coated conductors.

MOVPE Growth of In_xGa_(1-x)N(x～0.4) and Fabrication of Homo-junction Solar Cells

The metal organic vapor phase epitaxy （MOVPE） growth of indium gallium nitride （InGaN） has been discussed in detail towards the fabrication of solar cell. The InGaN film with In contents up to 0.4 are successfully grown by controlling the fundamental growth parameters such as the precursor gas flow rates, temperature etc. The formation of metallic In originates from the higher value （0.74） of trimethylindium/ （trimethylindium ＋ triethylgallium） （TMI/（TMI ＋ TEG）） molar ratio with low （4100） V/lll weight molar ratio while the lower value （0.2） of TMI/（TMI ＋ TEG） causes the phase separation. It is also necessary to control the growth rate and epitaxial film thickness to suppress the phase separation in the material. The crystalline quality of grown films is studied and it is found to be markedly deteriorated with increasing In content. The lattice parameters as well as the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between GaN template and InGaN epi-layer are primarily considered as the reasons to deteriorate the film quality for higher In content. By using Ino.16Ga0.84N films, an n＋-p homo-junction structure is fabricated on 0.65 μm GaN template. For such a device, the response to the light illumination （AM 1.5） is observed with an open circuit voltage of 1.4 V and the short circuit current density of 0.25 mA/cm2. To improve the performance as well as increase solar photon capturing, the device is further fabricated on thick GaN template with higher In content. The In0.25Ga0.75N n＋-p junction solar cell is found better performance with an open circuit voltage of 1.5 V and the short circuit current density of 0.5 mA/cm2. This is the InGaN p-n homo-junction solar cell with the highest In content ever reported by MOVPE.