All-Inorganic p-n Heterojunction Solar Cells by Solution Combustion Synthesis Using N-type FeMnO3 Perovskite Photoactive Layer.

Ioannis T Papadas,Ioannis Vamvasakis,Apostolos Ioakeimidis,Stelios A Choulis,Gerasimos S Armatas,Polyvios Eleftheriou

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.754487

Abstract

This study outlines the synthesis and physicochemical characteristics of a solution-processable iron manganite (FeMnO3) nanoparticles via a chemical combustion method using tartaric acid as a fuel whilst demonstrating the performance of this material as a n-type photoactive layer in all-oxide solar cells. It is shown that the solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method enables the formation of pure crystal phase FeMnO3 with controllable particle size. XRD pattern and morphology images from TEM confirm the purity of FeMnO3 phase and the relatively small crystallite size (∼13 nm), firstly reported in the literature. Moreover, to assemble a network of connected FeMnO3 nanoparticles, β-alanine was used as a capping agent and dimethylformamide (DMF) as a polar aprotic solvent for the colloidal dispersion of FeMnO3 NPs. This procedure yields a ∼500 nm thick FeMnO3 n-type photoactive layer. The proposed method is crucial to obtain functional solution processed NiO/FeMnO3 heterojunction inorganic photovoltaics. Photovoltaic performance and solar cell device limitations of the NiO/FeMnO3-based heterojunction solar cells are presented.

Highlights

A major source of renewable energy is solar energy (Ellabban et al, 2014)
Tartaric acid was used as the fuel agent in this work as it results in the formation of a single-crystalline phase of FeMnO3
This study successfully proves that the synthesis of FeMnO3 NPs can be achieved by a solution combustion technique, using tartaric acid as a fuel

Summary

INTRODUCTION

A major source of renewable energy is solar energy (Ellabban et al, 2014). the production of fuels and electricity from solar power is still costly, mainly because of the materials used in building the cells (Ellabban et al, 2014; Hussein, 2015). To assemble a network of tightly connected metal oxide NPs, the deposition of the FeMnO3 films was accomplished by spin coating technique of the colloidal NPs, followed by thermal annealing at 300°C for 30 min In this way, β-alanine can enable direct NP–NP interactions upon ligand removal at growth temperature due to its small size, yielding high strength films consisted of firmly interconnected NP networks. The resulting light green colored films were dried at 100°C for 5 min and used as a precursor for the combustion synthesis of NiO NPs. Subsequently the obtained films were heated at 300°C in ambient atmosphere for 1 h in a preheated hot plate to complete the combustion process and left to cool down at room temperature, forming a ∼50 nm thin layer. The sample was dried in a 60°C oven for 30 min

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT