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. 2022 May;9(14):e2104848.
doi: 10.1002/advs.202104848. Epub 2022 Feb 9.

Gas-Assisted Spray Coating of Perovskite Solar Cells Incorporating Sprayed Self-Assembled Monolayers

Affiliations

Gas-Assisted Spray Coating of Perovskite Solar Cells Incorporating Sprayed Self-Assembled Monolayers

Elena J Cassella et al. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022 May.

Abstract

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are becoming widely utilized as hole-selective layers in high-performance p-i-n architecture perovskite solar cells. Ultrasonic spray coating and airbrush coating are demonstrated here as effective methods to deposit MeO-2PACz; a carbazole-based SAM. Potential dewetting of hybrid perovskite precursor solutions from this layer is overcome using optimized solvent rinsing protocols. The use of air-knife gas-quenching is then explored to rapidly remove the volatile solvent from an MAPbI3 precursor film spray-coated onto an MeO-2PACz SAM, allowing fabrication of p-i-n devices with power conversion efficiencies in excess of 20%, with all other layers thermally evaporated. This combination of deposition techniques is consistent with a rapid, roll-to-roll manufacturing process for the fabrication of large-area solar cells.

Keywords: air-knife; gas-quenching; perovskite solar cells; scalable fabrication; self-assembled monolayers; spray coating.

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Conflict of interest statement

D.G.L. is a director of the materials science company Ossila that retails materials and equipment for thin film fabrication, including for research and development of perovskite photovoltaics.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
a) Illustration of the p‐i‐n device structure used. b) Initial contact angle for 2‐methoxy ethanol (2‐ME) on clean ITO and MeO‐2PACz films deposited on ITO via each technique without rinsing (darker‐blue) and for post‐rinsed films (lighter‐blue). For spray‐coated MeO‐2PACz, we found that an additional prerinse, together with a postrinse significantly improved the 2‐ME contact angle (hatched‐area). c) A schematic of the optimized rinsing procedures for spray‐ and airbrush‐coated MeO‐2PACz.
Figure 2
Figure 2
a) Device PCE for spin‐coated MAPbI3 devices fabricated on ITO substrates with a spin‐ (unrinsed, purple), dip‐ (postanneal rinsed only, yellow), spray‐ (pre‐ and post‐rinsed, green), and airbrush‐ (post‐rinsed only, orange) deposited MeO‐2PACz hole‐selective transport layer prepared as described in the text. b) External quantum efficiency, c) JV curve, and d) stabilized power output (SPO) for the best‐performing spray‐coated MeO‐2PACz device. e) JV curve and f) SPO for the best‐performing airbrush‐coated MeO‐2PACz device. Both champion devices incorporate an antireflective coating.
Figure 3
Figure 3
All devices are fabricated on ITO and do not include an antireflective coating. a) Photovoltaic performance of gas‐assisted spray‐processed (GASP) MAPbI3 devices as a function of the molarity of the 2‐methoxy ethanol precursor ink. b) Photovoltaic performance of GASP devices fabricated from a 0.5 m precursor ink with increasing delay time between deposition of the ink and application of a N2 gas‐jet. c) Photovoltaic device efficiency of MAPbI3 devices prepared using GASP under optimized conditions (0.5 m, 30 s delay, red) versus spin‐coated control devices (blue). d) X‐ray diffraction patterns for spin‐coated (blue) and GASP MAPbI3 (red) films. e) The development of spray‐cast p‐i‐n and n‐i‐p MAPbI3 devices over time; p‐i‐n (filled orange circles) and n‐i‐p (outlined orange circles) MAPbI3, p‐i‐n MAPbI3− x Cl x (inverted green triangles), MAPbI3− x Br x , Cs x FA1− x PbI3, (brown square), and mixed cation (pink diamond). This work (pink star) demonstrates the highest power conversion efficiency for spray‐coated MAPbI3 perovskite solar cells achieved to date (more details can be found in Table S4, Supporting Information).
Figure 4
Figure 4
a) A histogram of device PCE for 14 cells prepared using both a spray‐coated MeO‐2PACz hole‐transporting layer and a gas‐assisted spray‐processed (GASP) MAPbI3 active layer, with an antireflective coating on FTO substrates. b) JV curve and c) stabilized power output (SPO) measurement for the best‐performing device.

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