Scalable Processing of Low-Temperature TiO2 Nanoparticles for High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells

Most high-efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSCs) rely on titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) electron transport layers (ETLs) that are usually processed at high temperature (>450 °C). Consequently, a fully solution-based process of PSCs with TiO 2 ETL on inexpensive flexible polymer substrates is not feasible. Therefore, a scalable low-temperature TiO 2 ETL is developed based on presynthesized crystalline nanoparticle TiO 2 (np-TiO 2 ). The presented synthesis process offers control over the doping, the hydrodynamic diameter, and the solvent of the np-TiO 2 . High initial power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.5% (stabilized at 18.2%) of PSC processed on the np-TiO 2 ETL is demonstrated with spin-coated methylammonium lead iodide (CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 ). Furthermore, it is shown that other perovskite absorber layers that include evaporated CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 and triple cation perovskite, Cs 0.1 (MA 0.17 FA 0.83 ) 0.9 Pb(I 0.83 Br 0.17 ) 3 , also show very high initial PCE, 14.5% and 19%, respectively. The possibility of doping the np-TiO 2 with niobium (Nb 5+ ) also reduces the resistance of the np-TiO 2 ETL, allowing for thick ETLs that are beneficial for rough substrates. Facile upscaling of the deposition of the np-TiO 2 ETL by inkjet printing, blade coating, and slot-die coating is also demonstrated, having high uniformity, resulting in prototype PSCs with a stable PCE > 15%.

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