Single-crystalline MAPbCl₃ thin-films for photo- and X-ray voltaics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid-State Physics
• Optoelectronics

Background:

• Methylammonium lead trichloride (MAPbCl₃) perovskites offer a wide 3 eV bandgap, suitable for transparent electronics.
• Challenges exist in crystallizing uniform polycrystalline MAPbCl₃ thin films from solution.
• Single-crystalline MAPbCl₃ films can be grown more uniformly.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the fabrication of single-crystalline MAPbCl₃ thin films using space-confined inverse temperature crystallization (ITC).
• To evaluate the material quality and defect density of the fabricated films.
• To assess the performance of these films in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and X-ray detection applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of single-crystalline MAPbCl₃ thin films on conductive glass via space-confined ITC.
• Characterization of film quality, focusing on defect emission within the bandgap.
• Fabrication and testing of PSCs under one sun irradiation.
• Evaluation of X-ray-voltaic performance.

Main Results:

• Single-crystalline MAPbCl₃ films with minimal deep-level defects were successfully grown.
• Resulting PSCs achieved an open-circuit voltage (V_OC) of 1.64 V and a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.1%.
• X-ray-voltaic measurements showed a V_OC of 0.89 V and an output power of 3.57 μW cm^-2 under 60 kV X-ray irradiation.

Conclusions:

• Space-confined ITC is an effective method for producing high-quality, single-crystalline MAPbCl₃ films.
• The low defect density contributes to improved photovoltaic performance.
• MAPbCl₃ demonstrates potential for both solar energy conversion and X-ray detection.