Pulsed Laser Deposited CsPbBr₃ Perovskite Solar Cells Achieving 10.71% Efficiency With Exceptional Long-Term...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Renewable Energy
• Solid-State Physics

Background:

• All-inorganic perovskite CsPbBr3 is a promising material for stable and cost-effective solar cells.
• Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) offers solvent-free, controllable thin-film fabrication for photovoltaic devices.
• Conventional CsPbBr3 targets produce defects during PLD, limiting film quality and device performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the limitations of conventional CsPbBr3 targets in PLD for perovskite solar cells (PSCs).
• To improve the quality and performance of CsPbBr3 thin films by optimizing target properties.
• To enable large-area manufacturing and commercialization of CsPbBr3-based photovoltaic devices.

Main Methods:

• Introduction of melt-quenched CsPbBr3 targets to replace conventional powder-pressed targets.
• Utilizing pulsed laser deposition (PLD) for thin-film fabrication.
• Comprehensive analysis of ablation plume characteristics and thin-film properties.

Main Results:

• Melt-quenched targets significantly suppressed the emission of large neutral particles and reduced the kinetic energy of species in the ablation plume.
• Improved CsPbBr3 thin-film quality with mitigated deep-level defects and precluded band misalignment.
• Achieved a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.71% for PSCs with enhanced stability (93% PCE retention over 150 days).

Conclusions:

• Melt-quenched CsPbBr3 targets are effective in improving thin-film quality and device performance for PSCs fabricated via PLD.
• The developed target engineering strategy offers a viable route for large-area, inline manufacturing of CsPbBr3 solar cells.
• This advancement facilitates the large-scale commercialization of stable and efficient all-inorganic perovskite solar cells.