Large-area, highly uniform evaporated formamidinium lead triiodide thin films for solar cells

Martinez Maestro, L; Borchert, J; Milot, RL; Patel, JB; Davies, CL; Wright, AD; Snaith, HJ; Herz, LM; Johnston, MB

Abstract

Perovskite thin-film solar cells are one of the most promising emerging renewable energy technologies because of their potential for low-cost, large-area fabrication combined with high energy conversion efficiencies. Recently, formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI3) and other formamidinium (CH(NH2)2) based perovskites have been explored as interesting alternatives to methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3) because they exhibit better thermal stability. However, at present a major challenge is the scale-up of perovskite solar cells from small test-cells to full solar modules. We show that coevaporation is a scalable method for the deposition of homogeneous FAPbI3 thin films over large areas. The method allows precise control over film thickness and results in highly uniform, pinhole-free layers. Our films exhibited a high charge-carrier mobility of 26 cm2 V–1s–1, excellent optical properties, and a bimolecular …

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 10, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 10, 2017
• Publication Date: Dec 8, 2017
• Deposit Date: Dec 11, 2019
• Journal: ACS Energy Letters
• Electronic ISSN: 2380-8195
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 2799-2804
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00967
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00967
• Related Public URLs: https://pubs.acs.org/journal/aelccp
• Additional Information: Funders : Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);Merck Chemicals