An efficient electron transport material of tin oxide for planar structure perovskite solar cells

Abstract The photovoltaic performance of a perovskite solar cell based on a new electron conducting SnO2 film prepared at low temperature using different solvents was investigated. SnO2 was selected as an electron conducting medium due to its superior properties over TiO2, such as better antireflective properties, higher electron mobility, more suitable band edges and a wider band gap. A SnO2 layer was developed by spin-coating SnCl2 solution followed by annealing at 200 °C in air. The low-temperature (200 °C) annealed SnO2 layer exhibits enhanced crystallization, high transmittance, and uniform surface morphology using ethanol as a solvent rather than water. Solid state CuSCN hole conductor was used as HTM for reducing the device cost. A planar solar cell fabricated with CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite infiltrated SnO2 showed a power conversion efficiency of 8.38% with short-circuit current density of 18.99 mA cm−2, an open-circuit voltage of 0.96 mV and a fill factor of 45%. The devices were fabricated at >60% humidity level at room temperature. The results suggest that SnO2 is an effective charge collection system for CH3NH3PbI3 based planar perovskite solar cells. In addition, these results provide a new direction for the future improvement of perovskite solar cells using new electron conducting layers.