Reducing hysteresis and enhancing performance of perovskite solar cells using acetylacetonate modified TiO2 nanoparticles as electron transport layers

Abstract

Electron transport layer (ETL) plays an important role in improving charge transportation, suppressing current-voltage hysteresis and enhancing photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here we successfully synthesize anatase titania nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) with an average diameter about 3.6 nm by a facile and low-cost solvothermal method. Using the as-synthesized TiO2 NPs as ETL, the planar perovskite solar cells exhibit good photovoltaic performance. Encouragingly, when the TiO2 NPs are modified with titanium acetylacetonate [TiO(acac)2], a pinhole-free, dense, low charge transfer resistance and high charge extraction TiO2 ETL is formed and the power conversion efficiency of the planar perovskite solar cell is enhanced from 17.25% to 19.21%, accompanied by a significant decrease of J-V hysteresis. The facile process and significant performance improvement suggest that acetylacetonate modified TiO2 nanoparticles could be good ETL candidates for high-performance planar perovskite solar cells with low hysteresis.