CsPbBr3 Solar Cells: Controlled Film Growth through Layer-by-Layer Quantum Dot Deposition

• Published in: Chemistry of materials 2017-11, Vol.29 (22), p.9767-9774
• Main Authors: Hoffman, Jacob B, Zaiats, Gary, Wappes, Isaac, Kamat, Prashant V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0897-4756; 1520-5002
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b03751

All inorganic cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) perovskite is a more stable alternative to methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) for designing high open-circuit voltage solar cells and display devices. Poor solubility of CsBr in organic solvents makes typical solution deposition methods difficult to adapt for constructing CsPbBr3 devices. Our layer-by-layer methodology, which makes use of CsPbBr3 quantum dot (QD) deposition followed by annealing, provides a convenient way to cast stable films of desired thickness. The transformation from QDs into bulk during thermal annealing arises from the resumption of nanoparticle growth and not from sintering as generally assumed. Additionally, a large loss of organic material during the annealing process is mainly from 1-octadecene left during the QD synthesis. Utilizing this deposition approach for perovskite photovoltaics is examined using typical planar architecture devices. Devices optimized to both QD spin-casting concentration and overall CsPbBr3 thickness produce champion devices that reach power conversion efficiencies of 5.5% with a V oc value of 1.4 V. The layered QD deposition demonstrates a controlled perovskite film architecture for developing efficient, high open-circuit photovoltaic devices.