• Ceramist
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.145-165
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• 2020

Halide perovskites are promising photovoltaic materials due to their excellent optoelectronic properties like high absorption coefficient, low exciton binding energy and long diffusion length, and single-junction solar cells consisting of them have shown a high certified efficiency of 25.2%. Despite of high efficiency, perovskite photovoltaics show poor stability under actual operational condition, which is the mostly critical obstacle for commercialization. Given that the stability of the perovskite devices is significantly affected by charge-transporting layers, the use of inorganic charge-transporting layers with better intrinsic stability than the organic counterparts must be beneficial to the enhanced device reliability. In this review article, we summarized a number of studies on the inorganic charge-transporting layers of the perovskite solar cells, especially focusing on their effects on the enhanced device reliability.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.103-107
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• 2023

A Nickel oxide (NiO_x) thin films were prepared via sol-gel process on a transparent conductive oxide glass substrate. The NiO_x thin films were spin-coated in ambient air and subsequently annealed for 30 minutes at temperatures ranging from 150℃ to 450℃. The structural and optical characteristics of the NiO_x thin films annealed at various temperatures were measured using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. After optimizing the NiO_x coating conditions, perovskite solar cells were fabricated with p-i-n inverted structure, and its photovoltaic performance was evaluated. NiO_x thin films annealed at 350℃ exhibited the most favorable characteristics as a hole transport layer, resulting in the highest power conversion efficiency of 17.88 % when fabricating inverted perovskite solar cells using this film.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.430-434
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• 2013

Quantum dots(QDs) with their tunable luminescence properties are uniquely suited for use as lumophores in light emitting device. We investigate the microstructural effect on the electroluminescence(EL). Here we report the use of inorganic semiconductors as robust charge transport layers, and demonstrate devices with light emission. We chose mechanically smooth and compositionally amorphous films to prevent electrical shorts. We grew semiconducting oxide films with low free-carrier concentrations to minimize quenching of the QD EL. The hole transport layer(HTL) and electron transport layer(ETL) were chosen to have carrier concentrations and energy-band offsets similar to the QDs so that electron and hole injection into the QD layer was balanced. For the ETL and the HTL, we selected a 40-nm-thick $ZnSnO_x$ with a resistivity of $10{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, which show bright and uniform emission at a 10 V applied bias. Light emitting uniformity was improved by reducing the rpm of QD spin coating.At a QD concentration of 15.0 mg/mL, we observed bright and uniform electroluminescence at a 12 V applied bias. The significant decrease in QD luminescence can be attributed to the non-uniform QD layers. This suggests that we should control the interface between QD layers and charge transport layers to improve the electroluminescence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.427-427
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• 2016

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite have attracted significant attention as a new revolutionary light absorber for photovoltaic device due to its remarkable characteristics such as long charge diffusion lengths (100-1000nm), low recombination rate, and high extinction coefficient. Recently, power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cell is above 20% that is approached to crystalline silicon solar cells. Planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells have simple device structure and can be fabricated low temperature process due to absence of mesoporous scaffold that should be annealed over 500 oC. However, in the planar structure, controlling perovskite film qualities such as crystallinity and coverage is important for high performances. Those controlling methods in one-step deposition have been reported such as adding additive, solvent-engineering, using anti-solvent, for pin-hole free perovskite layer to reduce shunting paths connecting between electron transport layer and hole transport layer. Here, we studied the effect of alkali metal halide to control the fabrication process of perovskite film. During the morphology determination step, alkali metal halides can affect film morphologies by intercalating with PbI2 layer and reducing $CH3NH3PbI3{\cdot}DMF$ intermediate phase resulting in needle shape morphology. As types of alkali metal ions, the diverse grain sizes of film were observed due to different crystallization rate depending on the size of alkali metal ions. The pin-hole free perovskite film was obtained with this method, and the resulting perovskite solar cells showed higher performance as > 10% of power conversion efficiency in large size perovskite solar cell as $5{\times}5cm$. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) are analyzed to prove the mechanism of perovskite film formation with alkali metal halides.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2024

Perovskite solar cells have exhibited a remarkable increase in efficiency from an initial 3.8% to 26.1%, marking a significant advancement. However, challenges persist in the commercialization of perovskite solar cells due to their low stability with respect to humidity, light exposure, and temperature. Moreover, the instability of the organic charge transport layer underscores the need for exploring inorganic alternatives. In the manufacturing process of the perovskite solar cells' oxide charge transport layer, ultraviolet-ozone (UVO) treatment is commonly applied to enhance the wettability of the perovskite solution. The UVO treatment on metal oxides has proven effective in suppressing surface oxygen vacancies and removing surface organic contaminants. This study focused on the characterization of nickel oxide as the hole transport material in perovskite solar cells, specifically investigating the impact of UVO treatment on film properties. Through this analysis, changes induced by the UVO treatment were observed, and consequent alterations in the device characteristics were identified.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.68-69
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• 2011

The process of charge transfer at the interface between two semiconductors or between a metal and a semiconductor plays an important role in many areas of technology. The optimization of such devices requires a good theoretical description of the interfaces involved. This, in turn, has motivated detailed mechanistic studies of interfacial charge-transfer reactions at metal/organic, organic/organic, and organic/inorganic semiconductor heterojunctions. Charge recombination of photo-induced electron with redox species such as oxidized dyes or triiodide or cationic HTM (hole transporting materials) at the heterogeneous interface of $TiO_2$ is one of main loss factors in liquid junction DSSCs or solid-state DSSCs, respectively. Among the attempts to prevent recombination reactions such as insulating thin layer and lithium ions-doped hole transport materials and introduction of co-adsorbents, although co-adsorbents retard the recombination reactions as hydrophobic energy barriers, little attention has been focused on the anchoring processes. Molecular engineering of heterogeneous interfaces by employing several co-adsorbents with different properties altered the surface properties of $TiO_2$ electrodes, resulting to the improved power conversion efficiency and long-term stability of the DSSCs. In this talk, advantages of the coadsorbent-assisted sensitization of N719 in preparation of DSSCs will be discussed.