Synergy of ammonium chloride and moisture on perovskite crystallization for efficient printable mesoscopic solar cells.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28240286.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms14555 and PMC identifier 5333356.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Organometal lead halide perovskites have been widely used as the light harvester for high-performance solar cells. However, typical perovskites of methylammonium lead halides (CH3NH3PbX3, X=Cl, Br, I) are usually sensitive to moisture in ambient air, and thus require an inert atmosphere to process. Here we demonstrate a moisture-induced transformation of perovskite crystals in a triple-layer scaffold of TiO2/ZrO2/Carbon to fabricate printable mesoscopic solar cells. An additive of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) is employed to assist the crystallization of perovskite, wherein the formation and transition of intermediate CH3NH3X·NH4PbX3(H2O)2 (X=I or Cl) enables high-quality perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 crystals with preferential growth orientation. Correspondingly, the intrinsic perovskite devices based on CH3NH3PbI3 achieve an efficiency of 15.6% and a lifetime of over 130 days in ambient condition with 30% relative humidity. This ambient-processed printable perovskite solar cell provides a promising prospect for mass production, and will promote the development of perovskite-based photovoltaics.