Nanocomposite coatings for perovskite solar cells and methods of making the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017301480-A1
Application number	US-201715487988-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 14, 2017
Priority date	Apr 15, 2016
Publication date	Oct 19, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An aspect of the present disclosure is a method that includes, in a first mixture that includes a metal alkoxide and water, reacting at least a portion of the metal alkoxide and at least a portion of the water to form a second mixture that includes a solid metal oxide phase dispersed in the second mixture, applying the second mixture onto a surface of a device that includes an intervening layer adjacent to a perovskite layer such that the intervening layer is between the second mixture and perovskite layer, and treating the second mixture, such that the solid metal oxide phase is transformed to a first solid metal oxide layer such that the intervening layer is positioned between the first solid metal oxide layer and the perovskite layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
in a first mixture comprising a metal alkoxide and water, reacting at least a portion of the metal alkoxide and at least a portion of the water to form a second mixture comprising a solid metal oxide phase dispersed in the second mixture; applying the second mixture onto a surface of a device comprising an intervening layer adjacent to a perovskite layer such that the intervening layer is between the second mixture and perovskite layer; and treating the second mixture, such that the solid metal oxide phase is transformed to a first solid metal oxide layer such that the intervening layer is positioned between the first solid metal oxide layer and the perovskite layer.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal alkoxide comprises Si(OR) 4 and the R group comprises an alkyl group.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the R group comprises a polymeric group.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the polymeric group comprises at least one of a polystyrene group, a polyamide group, a poly(ethyleneimine) group, an epoxy group, a poly(ethylene oxide) group, a poly(oxypropylene) group, a poly(arylene ether phosphine oxide) group, a poly(arylene ether sulfone) group, a cellulose acetate group, a polyacrylic group, a polyacrylonitrile group, or a polybutadiene group.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the solid metal oxide phase comprises a first network of interconnected silicon atoms comprising at least one of SiO 2 , SiO 1.5 OH, SiO(OH) 2 , SiO 0.5 (OH) 3 , SiO 1.5 R, SiOR 2 , SiO 0.5 R 3 , SiO 0.5 (OH)R 2 , SiO 0.5 (OH) 2 R, or SiO(OH)R and a first amount of unreacted Si(OR) 4 .

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the first solid metal oxide layer comprises a second network of interconnected silicon atoms comprising at least one of SiO 2 , SiO 1.5 OH, SiO(OH) 2 , SiO 0.5 (OH) 3 , SiO 1.5 R, SiOR 2 , SiO 0.5 R 3 , SiO 0.5 (OH)R 2 , SiO 0.5 (OH) 2 R, or SiO(OH)R and a second amount of unreacted Si(OR) 4 that is less than the first amount.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mixture further comprises an alcohol.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first mixture further comprises R′[Si(OR) 3 ] x where x is an integer value between 1 and 10 inclusively.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the R′ group comprises an organic group.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the organic group comprises at least one of an alkane group, an alkene group, or an aromatic group.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the first network further comprises at least one of SiO 1.5 R′ 0.5 , SiOR′, SiO 0.5 R′ 1.5 , SiO(OH)R′ 0.5 , SiO 0.5 (OH)R′, or Si(OH)R′ 1.5 .

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the second network further comprises at least one of SiO 1.5 R′ 0.5 , SiOR′, SiO 0.5 R′ 1.5 , SiO(OH)R′ 0.5 , SiO 0.5 (OH)R′, or Si(OH)R′ 1.5 .

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reacting is performed at a temperature between 25° C. and 95° C.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying is performed by at least one of dip coating, curtain coating, or spin coating.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the intervening layer comprises a second solid metal oxide layer.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the second solid metal oxide layer is substantially transparent to sunlight.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the second solid metal oxide layer comprises nickel oxide.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the second solid metal oxide layer has a thickness between 10 Å and 500 Å.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the perovskite comprises ABX 3 , where X comprises an anion, A comprises a first cation, and B comprises a second cation.

20 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising prior to the applying, depositing the second solid metal oxide layer onto the perovskite layer.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the depositing is performed by atomic layer deposition.

22 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising prior to the depositing, forming the perovskite layer.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the forming is performed by at least one of a solution method or a vapor phase method.

24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the treating comprises at least one of heating the second mixture or exposing the second mixture to a gas.

25 . A device comprising:
a perovskite layer; and at least one metal oxide layer adjacent to the perovskite layer.

26 . The device of claim 25 , wherein the at least one metal oxide layer comprises a silica-containing layer.

27 . The device of claim 26 , wherein the at least one metal oxide layer further comprises a nickel oxide layer positioned between the perovskite layer and the silica-containing layer.

Assignees

• Alliance Sustainable Energy

Inventors

• Zhu Kai
• Ma Zhiwen
• Dagdelen John Mehmet

Classifications

• H01L51/448

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01G9/2013 Primary

  the electrolyte comprising ionic liquids, e.g. alkyl imidazolium iodide · CPC title

• H01L51/4253

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01G9/2077

  Sealing arrangements, e.g. to prevent the leakage of the electrolyte · CPC title

• H10K85/50

  Organic perovskites; Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites [HOIP], e.g. CH3NH3PbI3 · CPC title