Premium
Superfast Room‐Temperature Activation of SnO 2 Thin Films via Atmospheric Plasma Oxidation and their Application in Planar Perovskite Photovoltaics
Author(s) -
Yu Haejun,
Yeom HyeIn,
Lee Jong Woo,
Lee Kisu,
Hwang Doyk,
Yun Juyoung,
Ryu Jaehoon,
Lee Jungsup,
Bae Sohyeon,
Kim Seong Keun,
Jang Jyongsik
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201704825
Subject(s) - materials science , annealing (glass) , energy conversion efficiency , photovoltaics , thin film , perovskite (structure) , fabrication , optoelectronics , tin oxide , nanotechnology , oxide , plasma , chemical engineering , photovoltaic system , composite material , electrical engineering , medicine , alternative medicine , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , engineering , doping
The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has now exceeded 20%; thus, research focus has shifted to establishing the foundations for commercialization. One of the pivotal themes is to curtail the overall fabrication time, to reduce unit cost, and mass‐produce PSCs. Additionally, energy dissipation during the thermal annealing (TA) stage must be minimized by realizing a genuine low‐temperature (LT) process. Here, tin oxide (SnO 2 ) thin films (TFs) are formulated at extremely high speed, within 5 min, under an almost room‐temperature environment (<50 °C), using atmospheric Ar/O 2 plasma energy (P‐SnO 2 ) and are applied as an electron transport layer of a “n–i–p”‐type planar PSC. Compared with a thermally annealed SnO 2 TF (T‐SnO 2 ), the P‐SnO 2 TF yields a more even surface but also outstanding electrical conductivity with higher electron mobility and a lower number of charge trap sites, consequently achieving a superior PCE of 19.56% in P‐SnO 2 ‐based PSCs. These findings motivate the use of a plasma strategy to fabricate various metal oxide TFs using the sol–gel route.