The effect of dodecylammonium chloride on the film morphology, crystallinity, and performance of lead-free Bi-based solution-processed photovoltaics devices

Nasir Ali, Sanam Attique, Sajid Rauf, Xiaoyu Wang, Amir Khesro, Shahid Ali, Muhammad Imran Asghar, Shikuan Yang, Peter D. Lund, Huizhen Wu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Bismuth is considered as one of the most promising candidates to replace Pb in the organo-lead halide perovskite, a classical material for various optoelectronic applications. When utilized in a photovoltaic cell, the performance of the cell drops due to deterioration in the absorber film and the changes in its crystal structures. In this work, a small amount of dodecylammonium chloride, C12H25NH3Cl (DCl) is added into Cs3Bi2I9 (CBI), resulting in a pinhole-free high-quality perovskite (PVK) film via a single-step solution processability, also confirmed by FTIR and XPS analyses. Structural, optical, and microscopic analyses showed that the quality, surface features, and crystallinity of the CBI films are significantly improved by adding DCl. The prepared films are successfully demonstrated in a solar cell and exhibited considerably improved photovoltaic (PV) characteristics (VOC by ~47%, JSC by ~33%, FF by 13%, and PCE by 115%) over pure CBI-based devices. Moreover, the PV device retained more than 95% of its initial PCE in the ambient laboratory environment (relative humidity 55±5%). To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest PCE along with extended environmental stability reported for solution processed CBI-based perovskite solar cells.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1356-1363
Number of pages8
JournalSolar Energy
Volume207
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2020
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • CsBiI
  • Dodecylammonium chloride
  • Improved crystallinity
  • Lead-free perovskites
  • Power conversion efficiency
  • Solar cell
  • Thin films

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