Siyuan Laboratory, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Vacuum Coating Technologies and New Energy Materials, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Vacuum Coating Technologies and New Energy Materials, Department of Physics, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Fund Project:Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61674070, 11574119, 11804117) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grants No. 21618313).
Received Date:18 December 2018
Accepted Date:25 January 2019
Available Online:23 March 2019
Published Online:05 April 2019
Abstract: Organometal halide perovskite is one of the most promising materials for high efficient thin-film solar cell. Solution fabrication process shows that the recorded power conversion efficiency (PCE) is 23.7%, however, large scale fabrication suffers the inevitable toxic solvent, preventing it from implementing the green commercialization. As one of the matured large-scale fabrication techniques, the vapor deposition is recently found to promise the green fabrication of perovskite thin film without toxic solvent. However, the PCE based on vapor deposition is considerably lower than that based on solution fabrication because of ineffective regulation methods of the perovskite films. So, there is intensive requirement for optimizing the growth of perovskite in vapor deposition for improving PCE, especially, developing a kind of quality regulation method of the perovskite films. In this study, we provide a method of adjusting grain size in vapor deposition method. The grain size optimization of MAPbI3 films is realized by simply modulating the reaction temperature between PbI2 films and MAI vapor. We set the reaction temperature to be 140 ℃, 160 ℃, 180 ℃ and 200 ℃ separately and establish the relationship between reaction time and grain size during the complete conversion of PbI2 film into MAPbI3 film. We find that the average grain size of the film increases first with growth temperature increasing from 140 ℃ to 180 ℃ and then decrease at 200 ℃, giving an average grain size of 0.81 ${\text{μm}}$ and a largest grain size of about 2 ${\text{μm}}$ at 180 ℃. The defect density of perovskite film is deduced from the space charge limited current model, showing that it decreases from 5.90 × 1016 cm–3 at 140 ℃ to 2.66 × 1016 cm–3 at 180 ℃. Photovoltaic devices with structure FTO/TiO2/C60/MAPbI3/spiro-OMeTAD/Au are fabricated to demonstrate the performance. It is found that the devices with an active area of 0.045 cm2 show that with the increase of grain size, the average PCE increases from 14.00% to 17.42%, and the best device shows that its PCE is 17.80% with 4.04% hysteresis index. To show the possibility of scaling up, we fabricate a uniform perovskite thin film with an area of about 72 cm2, and a device with an active area of 1 cm2, which gives a PCE of 13.17% in reverse scan. In summary, our research provides a method of regulating the grain size for the vapor deposition, which can improve device performance by reducing the trap density in perovskite film for suppressing the carrier recombination in grain boundary. Meanwhile, we prepare high performance devices and large area thin films, showing their potential in large area device fabrication and applications. Keywords:perovskite solar cells/ vapor deposition/ grains size regulation/ trap density
如图1(a)所示, 我们通过两步气相反应来完成钙钛矿薄膜的制备. 首先通过真空物理沉积法在TiO2衬底上蒸镀厚度为150 nm的PbI2薄膜. 考虑到MAI分子蒸发的弥散性, 我们采用近距离扩散的方法来完成PbI2与MAI的反应. 将蒸镀好的PbI2薄膜倒扣在装有100 mg MAI粉末的石英方舟上方, 源与衬底的距离仅为2 cm. 之后将石英方舟放进预先设置好温度的真空烘箱中进行反应. 在反应过程中, 气化的MAI气体分子扩散到PbI2薄膜内部, 使得“面共享”的八面体结构转化成“点共享”的八面体结构, 同时MA分子嵌入晶格框架形成钙钛矿结构(图1(b)). 图 1 钙钛矿薄膜的气相制备流程及效果 (a)两步钙钛矿薄膜气相制备流程示意图; (b)PbI2与MAI气体反应示意图; (c)器件SEM截面图 Figure1. Vapor growth of perovskite film: (a) Schematic growth processes of two-step vapor growth of perovskite films; (b) reaction schematic between the PbI2 structure and the MAI molecule; (c) the cross-sectional morphology of the as-prepared device.
为了探究最佳的PbI2与MAI反应的温度, 我们设计了140 ℃, 160 ℃, 180 ℃以及200 ℃共4组反应温度. 首先, 对不同反应温度下制备的MAPbI3薄膜结构进行确认. 如图2(a)所示, 反应生成的薄膜在14.1°, 20.0°, 23.4°, 24.5°, 分别出现MAPbI3(110)面、(112)面、(221)面、(202)面的特征峰, 证明生成的薄膜为MAPbI3薄膜[22]. 在12.6°处没有发现PbI2(001)面的特征峰, 基本确定薄膜中不存在PbI2的残留, 说明PbI2已经完全转化为MAPbI3. 进一步分析图2(a)的XRD谱图, 发现随着制备温度的提高, MAPbI3(110)面的峰值强度迅速增加, 在180 ℃达到峰值, 温度继续提高有略微的下降. 与此同时, XRD的半峰宽随着温度提高也明显减少, 这意味着较高反应温度下薄膜得到了更好的结晶. 实验发现(图2(b)), 完全转化所需的时间随着反应温度的升高而减小, 140 ℃下所需要的时间长达180 min, 而当温度达到200 ℃时, 所需时间降低为10 min. 更高的反应温度存在着更快的合成过程与更快的分解过程. 在200 ℃反应温度的条件下平均粒径减少, 可能是由于此温度下存在较大的MAPbI3分解现象, 导致晶粒减小. 图2(c)的紫外-可见吸收光谱(UV-vis)显示, 不同条件下制备的薄膜都有趋近780 nm的吸收边, 对应着MAPbI3的禁带宽度(Eg) 1.58 eV. 在可见光范围内, 可以发现180 ℃以及200 ℃制备的薄膜都有较高的吸收度. 相比之下, 140 ℃条件下制备的钙钛矿薄膜明显低于180 ℃制备的薄膜. 图 2 不同反应温度下钙钛矿薄膜的表征 (a)薄膜的XRD图谱; (b)不同反应温度下PbI2向MAPbI3完全转化所需的时间; (c)薄膜的吸收图谱 Figure2. (a) The XRD patterns; (b) reaction time for fully conversion of PbI2 to MAPbI3 under different reaction temperature; (c) UV-vis spectra of perovskite films synthesized under different temperature.
进一步利用SEM研究了MAPbI3薄膜形态. 图3(a)—(d)显示不同的反应温度下, 薄膜均致密均匀. 当MAI的蒸发温度为140 ℃时, 构成薄膜的MAPbI3平均粒径约为0.42 ${\text{μm}}$, 最大的晶粒粒径可达0.79 ${\text{μm}}$. 当反应温度提高到160 ℃时, 平均粒径增加到0.51 ${\text{μm}}$. 继续提高反应温度到180 ℃时, 平均粒径增加到0.81 ${\text{μm}}$, 其中最大晶粒粒径接近2 ${\text{μm}}$. 然而, 当反应温度继续提高到200 ℃时, 平均粒径反而降低到0.69 ${\text{μm}}$(图3(e)). 上述结果与XRD的数据分析相吻合, 结果显示通过调节PbI2与MAI反应温度, 可以实现对MAPbI3薄膜晶粒大小的调控及优化. 同时, 利用上述气相法, 我们成功制备了约72 cm2的大面积钙钛矿薄膜(图3(f)), 薄膜致密, 色泽均匀. 图 3 温度对钙钛矿薄膜形态的影响 (a)—(d)反应温度分别为140 ℃, 160 ℃, 180 ℃以及200 ℃时制备的钙钛矿的SEM形貌图(白色线段长度为1 ${\text{μm}}$); (e)不同反应温度下的钙钛矿薄膜晶体粒径统计; (f)气相法制备面积约72 cm2的MAPbI3薄膜 Figure3. Reaction temperature effect on the morphology of perovskite film: (a)–(d) SEM images of perovskite films with reaction temperature of (a) 140 ℃, (b) 160 ℃, (c) 180 ℃ and (d) 200 ℃ (the scale bars in the SEM images are 1 ${\text{μm}}$); (e) statistics of grain size under different reaction temperature; (f) as prepared MAPbI3 film with area about 72 cm2.