Planar heterojunction perovskite solar cell with graded energy band architecture via fast-drying spray deposition

Abstract

The fast-drying spray deposition (FDSD) technique for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is developed to enable the stacking of perovskite absorbers with different work functions, which allows the creation of an additional built-in electric field at the interface during the fermi level realignment process upon contact. FDSD is functional under high relative humidity (RH) ambiance and by design, deposits dry film without the need for post-deposition annealing treatment. Based on a spray coating process, FDSD is also highly scalable. Leveraging FDSD’s multilayer deposition capability, this work explores the implementation of graded energy band architectures to achieve PSCs with enhanced carrier extraction and photovoltaic performances. To demonstrate the potential benefit of this approach, two triple cation mixed halide perovskite formulas are chosen. The two formulas, when stacked together in correct order, produce a heterojunction PSC device with an extra built-in electric field, which helps drift charge carriers towards desired electrodes. The architecture with the proper energy band alignment therefore exhibits enhanced carrier extraction efficiency and, despite being subjected to over 60–80% RH during fabrication, reaches the mean power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.4%, with the maximum value of 9.5%. The average PCE translates to over 9.9% and 10.3% improvements over the devices based on the two constituent formulas individually. FDSD demonstrates great flexibility i.e., in-humid-air fabrication process and requiring no post annealing treatments, thereby enabling extremely robust and scalable stacked architecture PSCs with low cost and good performance.