Publication date: 7th November 2016
Lead halide based perovskite semiconductors have recently gained wide interest in solid state photovoltaic devices with impressive power conversion efficiencies (now above 20%).[1] While offering a relatively simple and low cost processability, the poor control of their growth processes in thin films represents a major roadblock. Inks based on colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles (NCs) could lead to a better control of the material quality and device reliability, but current NC synthesis methods use bulky, high-boiling point ligands and solvents, limiting their use in applications.[2,3] We report a fast, room-temperature synthesis of inks based on CsPbBr3 perovskite NCs using short, low boiling-point ligands and solvents.[4] Requiring no post-synthesis treatments, the inks are directly used to fabricate thin films of high optoelectronic quality, exhibiting photoluminescence quantum yields higher than 30% and an amplified spontaneous emission threshold as low as 1.5 µJ/cm2. The robustness of such properties is demonstrated by the fabrication of the first nanocrystal-based solar cells, with a density of short circuit current higher than 6 mA/cm2 and open circuit voltages as high as 1.5 V, close to the maximum theoretical values achievable.
References:
[1] N. J. Jeon, et al., Nat Mater (2014) 13, 897-903
[2] L. Protesescu, et al., Nano Letters (2015), 15, 3692-3696
[3] Q. A. Akkerman, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2015), 137, 10276-10281
[4] Q. A. Akkerman, et al., submitted