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. 2023 Oct 2;8(41):38345-38358.
doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c04734. eCollection 2023 Oct 17.

Crystallization Retardation and Synergistic Trap Passivation in Perovskite Solar Cells Incorporated with Magnesium-Decorated Graphene Quantum Dots

Somayeh Kalanaki  1 , Yaser Abdi  2 , Fatemeh Rahnemaye Rahsepar  3
Affiliations

Crystallization Retardation and Synergistic Trap Passivation in Perovskite Solar Cells Incorporated with Magnesium-Decorated Graphene Quantum Dots

Somayeh Kalanaki et al. ACS Omega. .

Abstract

One of the encouraging strategies for enhancing the efficiency of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is to reduce defects, trap states of pinholes, and charge recombination rate in the light absorber layer of perovskite, which can be addressed by increasing the perovskite grain size. The utilization of Mg-decorated graphene quantum dots (MGQD) or graphene quantum dots (GQDs) into a perovskite precursor solution for further crystal modification is introduced in this study. Studies on the crystalline structure and morphology of MGQD generated from GQDs demonstrate that MGQD has a greater crystal size than GQD. Therefore, higher light absorption in the whole UV-vis spectrum and a larger grain size for the perovskite/MGQD layer compared to the perovskite/GQD sample are achieved. Moreover, more photoluminescence peak quenching of perovskite/MGQD and extended carrier recombination lifetime (from 3 to 40 ns) verify the surface and grain boundary trap passivation compared to pristine perovskite. Consequently, PSCs in an n-i-p configuration containing perovskite/MGQD show a higher performance of 10.2% in comparison to the pristine perovskite at 7.2%, attributed to the enhanced JSC from 13.2 to 19.1 mA cm-2. Thus, incorporating MGQDs into the perovskite layer is a hopeful approach for obtaining a superior perovskite film with impressive charge extraction and decreased nonradiative charge recombination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
FTIR spectra of GO, GQD, and MGQD. The green (3750–3100 cm–1), blue (1800–1530 cm–1), yellow (1250–1050 cm–1), and pink (610–580 cm–1) highlighted regions correspond to stretching vibration of hydroxyl, carbonyl, aromatic C=C, C–O–C and bending vibration of C–O–C groups, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
XPS spectra of (a) survey, (b) C 1s, (c) O 1s, (d) Mg 1s, and (e) Mg 2p regions of MGQD.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) UV–vis spectra of GO, GQD, and MGQD samples (inset: the PL of GQD under the UV light, while GO did not show any PL). The XRD patterns of (b) GO and (c) GQD samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
AFM images and height profiles of (a) GQD and (b) MGQD.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Top view FE-SEM images and the corresponding size distribution histogram of (a,b) pristine perovskite, (c,d) perovskite/GQD, and (e,f) perovskite/MGQD samples deposited on a glass substrate. The scale bars of the FE-SEM images correspond to 200 nm.
Figure 6
Figure 6
XRD spectra of (a) pristine perovskite (black), perovskite/GQD (blue), and perovskite/MGQD (red) samples and (b,c) magnified XRD pattern of the corresponding samples.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) UV–vis absorption and (b) steady state and (c) time-resolved PL spectra of glass/pristine perovskite, glass/perovskite/GQD, and glass/perovskite/MGQD samples; included are the extracted average lifetimes fitted with a double-exponential decay function.
Figure 8
Figure 8
(a) Record J–V curves, (b) energy band diagram, (c) long-term device stability including normalized PCE of pristine perovskite (black), perovskite/GQD (blue), and perovskite/MGQD (red) of fabricated solar devices under the ambient condition (35–40% RH) at room temperature and without any encapsulation, over 100 days, and (d) J–V curve of fabricated devices based on the MgCl2 treatment of perovskite (green) compared to the pristine perovskite (black). The inset table shows the related PV parameters.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Statistical photovoltaic parameters (a) VOC, (b) JSC, (c) FF, and (d) PCE for pristine perovskite (black), perovskite/GQD (blue), and perovskite/MGQD (red) fabricated solar devices.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Graphic illustration of the synthesis steps of the magnesium-decorated graphene-quantum dot (MGQD).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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