Stepping toward Portable Optoelectronics with SnO2 Quantum Dot-Based Electron Transport Layers

Muhammad Salman Kiani; Hryhorii P Parkhomenko; Mayuribala Mangrulkar; Sabina Aigarayeva; Assylan Akhanuly; Erik O Shalenov; Annie Ng; Askhat N Jumabekov

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c02341

Stepping toward Portable Optoelectronics with SnO₂ Quantum Dot-Based Electron Transport Layers

ACS Omega. 2023 Jun 1;8(23):21212-21222. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c02341. eCollection 2023 Jun 13.

Authors

Muhammad Salman Kiani¹, Hryhorii P Parkhomenko¹, Mayuribala Mangrulkar¹, Sabina Aigarayeva¹, Assylan Akhanuly¹, Erik O Shalenov², Annie Ng³, Askhat N Jumabekov¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan.
² Department of General Physics, Satbayev University, Almaty 050013, Kazakhstan.
³ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan.

Abstract

With a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of more than 25%, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown an immense potential application for solar energy conversion. Owing to lower manufacturing costs and facile processibility via printing techniques, PSCs can easily be scaled up to an industrial scale. The device performance of printed PSCs has been improving steadily with the development and optimization of the printing process for the device functional layers. Various kinds of SnO₂ nanoparticle (NP) dispersion solutions including commercial ones are used to print the electron transport layer (ETL) of printed PSCs, and high processing temperatures are often required to obtain ETLs with optimum quality. This, however, limits the application of SnO₂ ETLs in printed and flexible PSCs. In this work, the use of an alternative SnO₂ dispersion solution based on SnO₂ quantum dots (QDs) to fabricate ETLs of printed PSCs on flexible substrates is reported. A comparative analysis of the performance and properties of the obtained devices with the devices fabricated employing ETLs made with a commercial SnO₂ NP dispersion solution is carried out. The ETLs made with SnO₂ QDs are shown to improve the performance of devices by ∼11% on average compared to the ETLs made with SnO₂ NPs. It is found that employing SnO₂ QDs can reduce trap states in the perovskite layer and improve charge extraction in devices.