Synthesis and Characterization of High-Efficiency Halide Perovskite Nanomaterials for Light-Absorbing Applications

Inorganic perovskite materials are possible candidates for conversion of solar energy to electrical energy due to their high absorption coefficient. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) introduced a new type of device structure that has attention due to better efficiencies and interest in PSCs that has been increasing in recent years. Halide perovskite materials such as CsPbIBr₂ show remarkable optical and structural performance with their better physical properties. Perovskite solar cells are a possible candidate to replace conventional silicon solar panels. In the present study, CsPbIBr₂ perovskite materials' thin films were prepared for light-absorbing application. Five thin films were deposited on the glass substrates by subsequent spin-coating of CsI and PbBr₂ solutions, subsequently annealed at different temperature values (as-deposited, 100, 150, 200 and 250 °C) to get CsPbIBr₂ thin films with a better crystal structure. Structural characterizations were made by using X-ray diffraction. CsPbIBr₂ thin films were found to be polycrystalline in nature. With increasing annealing temperature, the crystallinity was improved, and the crystalline size was increased. Optical properties were studied by using transmission data, and by increasing annealing temperature, a small variation in optical band gap energy was observed in the range of 1.70-1.83 eV. The conductivity of CsPbIBr₂ thin films was determined by a hot probe technique and was found to have little fluctuating response toward p-type conductivity, which may be due to intrinsic defects or presence of CsI phase, but a stable intrinsic nature was observed. The obtained physical properties of CsPbIBr₂ thin films suggest them as a suitable candidate as a light-harvesting layer. These thin films could be an especially good partner with Si or other lower band gap energy materials in tandem solar cells (TSC). CsPbIBr₂ material will harvest light having energy of ∼1.7 eV or higher, while a lower energy part of the solar spectrum will be absorbed in the partner part of the TSC.