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Multi-functional Strategy: Ammonium Citrate-Modified SnO2 ETL for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

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    Surfaces, Interfaces, and Applications

    Multi-functional Strategy: Ammonium Citrate-Modified SnO2 ETL for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells
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    • Wenqi Zeng
      Wenqi Zeng
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      Center for Advanced Thin Films and Devices, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Wenqi Zeng
    • Xiaofeng He
      Xiaofeng He
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      Center for Advanced Thin Films and Devices, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Xiaofeng He
    • Hongyu Bian
      Hongyu Bian
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      Center for Advanced Thin Films and Devices, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Hongyu Bian
    • Pengju Guo
      Pengju Guo
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Pengju Guo
    • Meng Wang
      Meng Wang
      College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China
      More by Meng Wang
    • Cunyun Xu
      Cunyun Xu
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Cunyun Xu
      Orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8415-6325
    • Gaobo Xu
      Gaobo Xu
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Gaobo Xu
    • Yuanxin Zhong
      Yuanxin Zhong
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Yuanxin Zhong
    • Dengcheng Lu
      Dengcheng Lu
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      More by Dengcheng Lu
    • Zdeněk Sofer
      Zdeněk Sofer
      Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, Prague 6, 166 28 Prague, Czech Republic
      Low-dimension Materials and Optoelectronic Devices, International Joint Laboratory of China-Czech Republic, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
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      Orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1391-4448
    • Qunliang Song*
      Qunliang Song
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      Low-dimension Materials and Optoelectronic Devices, International Joint Laboratory of China-Czech Republic, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      *Email: [email protected]
      More by Qunliang Song
      Orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3797-037X
    • Sam Zhang*
      Sam Zhang
      Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      Center for Advanced Thin Films and Devices, School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China
      *Email: [email protected]
      More by Sam Zhang
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    ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

    Cite this: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 38, 43975–43986
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    https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c13309
    Published September 14, 2022
    Copyright © 2022 American Chemical Society
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    Abstract

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    The tin oxide (SnO2) electron transport layer (ETL) plays a crucial role in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the heterogeneous dispersion of commercial SnO2 colloidal precursors is far from optimized, resulting in dissatisfied device performance with SnO2 ETL. Herein, a multifunctional modification material, ammonium citrate (TAC), is used to modify the SnO2 ETL, bringing four benefits: (1) due to the electrostatic interaction between TAC molecules and SnO2 colloidal particles, more uniformly dispersed colloidal particles are obtained; (2) the TAC molecules distributed on the surface of SnO2 provide nucleation sites for the perovskite film growth, promoting the vertical growth of the perovskite crystal; (3) TAC-doped SnO2 shows higher electron conductivity and better film quality than pristine SnO2 while offering better energy-level alignment with the perovskite layer; and (4) TAC has functional groups of C═O and N–H containing lone pair electrons, which can passivate the defects on the surface of SnO2 and perovskite films through chemical bonding and inhibit the device hysteresis. In the end, the device based on TAC-doped ETL achieved an increased power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.58 from 19.75% of the reference without such treatment. Meanwhile, the PSCs using the TAC-doped SnO2 as the ETL maintained 88% of their initial PCE after being stored for about 1000 h under dark conditions and controlled RH of 10–25%.

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    The Supporting Information is available free of charge at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.2c13309.

    • UV–vis transmittance spectra, FTIR spectra, XPS spectra, EDS images, contact angle measurements, Tauc-plot, Mott–Schottky curve, PCE distribution, photovoltaic parameters, DLS parameters, XPS fitting results, FWHM fitting results of the XRD pattern, TRPL fitting results, and EIS fitting results (PDF)

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    ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

    Cite this: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 38, 43975–43986
    Click to copy citationCitation copied!
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c13309
    Published September 14, 2022
    Copyright © 2022 American Chemical Society
    Request reuse permissions

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