Novel Energy Materials and Advanced Characterisation

Abstract:

Vacuum deposition is a solvent-free method suitable for growing thin films of metal halide perovskite (MHP) semiconductors. However, most reports of high-efficiency solar cells based on such vacuum-deposited MHP films incorporate solution-processed hole transport layers (HTLs), thereby complicating prospects of industrial upscaling and potentially affecting the overall device stability. In this work, we investigate organometallic copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) as alternative, low-cost, and durable HTLs in all-vacuum-deposited solvent-free formamidinium-cesium lead triodide [CH(NH₂)₂]_0.83Cs_0.17PbI₃ (FACsPbI₃) perovskite solar cells. We elucidate that the CuPc HTL, when employed in an “inverted” p–i–n solar cell configuration, attains a solar-to-electrical power conversion efficiency of up to 13.9%. Importantly, unencapsulated devices as large as 1 cm² exhibited excellent long-term stability, demonstrating no observable degradation in efficiency after more than 5000 h in storage and 3700 h under 85 °C thermal stressing in N₂ atmosphere.

Abstract:

Perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have experienced a rapid increase in efficiency over the last several years and are now regarded as promising low-cost devices for displays and communication systems. However, it is often challenging to employ ZnO, a well-studied electron transport material, in perovskite LEDs due to chemical instability at the ZnO/perovskite interface and charge injection imbalance caused by the relatively high conductivity of ZnO. In this work, we address these problems by depositing an ultrathin Al₂O₃ interlayer at the ZnO/perovskite interface, allowing the fabrication of green-emitting perovskite LEDs with a maximum luminance of 21 815 cd/m². Using atomic layer deposition, we can precisely control the Al₂O₃ thickness and thus fine-tune the electron injection from ZnO, allowing us to enhance the efficiency and operational stability of our LEDs.