A novel and stable ultraviolet and infrared intensity sensor in impedance/capacitance modes fabricated from degraded CH3NH3PbI3-xClx perovskite materials

Tahseen Amin Qasuria; Noshin Fatima; Khasan S Karimov; Mohd Adib Ibrahim

doi:10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.09.025

A novel and stable ultraviolet and infrared intensity sensor in impedance/capacitance modes fabricated from degraded CH₃NH₃PbI₃-_xCl_x perovskite materials

J Mater Res Technol. 2020 Nov-Dec;9(6):12795-12803. doi: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.09.025. Epub 2020 Sep 21.

Authors

Tahseen Amin Qasuria¹, Noshin Fatima², Khasan S Karimov^{1

3}, Mohd Adib Ibrahim²

Affiliations

¹ Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi 23640, KPK, Pakistan.
² Solar Energy Research Institute, The National University of Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
³ Center for Innovative Development of Science and Technologies of Academy of Sciences, Rudaki Ave., 33, Dushanbe, 734025, Tajikistan.

Abstract

The present situation of COVID-19 diverted our focus towards utilizing the degraded solar cells for sensor application, this will help in global energy harvesting. So, here is our successful effort to reuse already degraded solar cells as ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) sensor. The spin-coated perovskite (CH₃NH₃PbI_3-XCl_X) has been already tested for visible light spectrum, as an extension to that now it is utilized as UV and IR intensity sensors to cover the whole spectrum. The employed CH₃NH₃PbI_3-XCl_X material was used after its efficiency loss has been reached to a saturation point in photovoltaic devices. Each deposited layer was investigated from UV to the IR absorption spectrum for deepening study through UV-vis spectroscopy. In the sandwiched architecture possessing FTO/PEDOT: PSS/Perovskite/PC₆₁BM/CdS/Au symmetry, the perovskite film has been employed as an absorbent layer, however, other layers participation also plays a key role. The resultant device yielded very good sensing performance because of the enhanced excitons generation which is attributed to the precise selection of the interfacial materials, e.g. CdS and PC₆₁BM as an ETM and PEDOT: PSS as HTM. The impedance and capacitance of the devices within 0.01-200 kHz under varied UV and IR illumination intensities were investigated. Measurements showed that as the intensity of the light increased i.e., UV (0-200 W/m²) and IR (0-5800 W/m²), impedance decreased while capacitance increased. The current results are attributed to the increase in the concentration of charges i.e., electron-hole pairs generation depending on the built-in capacitance and frequency of the charges.

Keywords: Environmental monitoring sensor; Frequency analysis method; Perovskite; Recyclability; UV/IR detectors.