MXene-Modulated Electrode/SnO2 Interface Boosting Charge Transport in Perovskite Solar Cells

Yunfan Wang; Pan Xiang; Aobo Ren; Huagui Lai; Zhuoqiong Zhang; Zhipeng Xuan; Zhenxi Wan; Jingquan Zhang; Xia Hao; Lili Wu; Masakazu Sugiyama; Udo Schwingenschlögl; Cai Liu; Zeguo Tang; Jiang Wu; Zhiming Wang; Dewei Zhao

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c17338

MXene-Modulated Electrode/SnO₂ Interface Boosting Charge Transport in Perovskite Solar Cells

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Dec 2;12(48):53973-53983. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c17338. Epub 2020 Nov 17.

Authors

Yunfan Wang¹, Pan Xiang², Aobo Ren², Huagui Lai¹, Zhuoqiong Zhang³, Zhipeng Xuan¹, Zhenxi Wan¹, Jingquan Zhang¹, Xia Hao¹, Lili Wu¹, Masakazu Sugiyama⁴, Udo Schwingenschlögl⁵, Cai Liu^{6

7}, Zeguo Tang⁸, Jiang Wu², Zhiming Wang², Dewei Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology & College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
² Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.
³ Department of Physics, Institute of Advanced Materials, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁴ Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 153-8904, Japan.
⁵ Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China.
⁷ Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China.
⁸ College of New Materials and New Energy, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen 518118, Guangdong, China.

PMID: 33200937
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c17338

Abstract

Interface engineering is imperative to boost the extraction capability in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). We propose a promising approach to enhance the electron mobility and charge transfer ability of tin oxide (SnO₂) electron transport layer (ETL) by introducing a two-dimensional carbide (MXene) with strong interface interaction. The MXene-modified SnO₂ ETL also offers a preferable growth platform for perovskite films with reduced trap density. Through a spatially resolved imaging technique, profoundly reduced non-radiative recombination and charge transport losses in PSCs based on MXene-modified SnO₂ are also observed. As a result, the PSC achieves an enhanced efficiency of 20.65% with ultralow saturated current density and negligible hysteresis. We provide an in-depth mechanistic understanding of MXene interface engineering, offering an alternative approach to obtain efficient PSCs.

Keywords: Ti3C2Tx MXene; current transport efficiency; electroluminescence imaging; energy level alignment; interface engineering; perovskite solar cells.