High-Throughput Deposition of Recyclable SnO2 Electrodes toward Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Chemical bath deposited (CBD) SnO₂ is one of the most prevailing electron transport layers for realizing high-efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSCs) so far. However, the state-of-the-art CBD SnO₂ process is time-consuming, contradictory to its prospect in industrialization. Herein, a simplified yet efficient method is developed for the fast deposition of SnO₂ electrodes by incorporating a concentrated Sn source stabilized by the ethanol ligand with antimony (Sb) doping. The higher concentration of Sn source promotes the deposition rate, and Sb doping improves the hole-blocking capability of the CBD SnO₂ layer so that its target thickness can be reduced to further save the deposition time. As a result, the deposition time can be appreciably reduced from 3-4 h to only 5 min while maintaining 95% of the maximum efficiency, indicating the power of the method toward high-throughput production of efficient PSCs. Additionally, the CBD SnO₂ substrates are recyclable after removing the upper layers of complete PSCs, and the refurbished PSCs can maintain ≈98% of their initial efficiency after three recycling-and-fabrication processes.

Keywords: chemical bath deposition; electron transport layers; high‐throughput production; perovskite solar cells; tin oxide.