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  4. Pioneering non-thermal plasma as a defect passivator: a new Frontier in ambient metal halide perovskite synthesis
 
research article

Pioneering non-thermal plasma as a defect passivator: a new Frontier in ambient metal halide perovskite synthesis

Mahiny, Milad
•
Lotfi, Hossein
•
Beigmohammadi, Maryam
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2024
Materials Horizons

Growing energy demands make cost-effective, high-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) desirable. However, their commercial applications are limited due to defect formation and instability. Passivation technologies help enhance their favorable traits. Herein, we propose a pioneering technique utilizing non-thermal plasma (NTP) synthesis for passivating inherent defects and optimizing the energy levels of perovskites. AC-NTP utilizes ionic charges and uniform electric fields to effectively neutralize defect-induced charge traps, acting as a field-effect passivator. This approach not only mitigates energetic defects, but also facilitates the transformation of NH4PbI3 into a CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite through a self-degassing mechanism. The perovskites synthesized using this method demonstrate notable advancements in their properties, as evidenced by X-ray diffraction, UV-vis spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. These improvements include enhanced crystalline quality, superior optical characteristics, and precise nanoparticle size control, with an average size of 54 nm. In situ Rietveld refinement analysis reveals minimal PbI2 formation, resulting in fewer lead iodide inversion defects. Accordingly, the PSC fabricated by AC-NTP shows a PCE of 15.25%, significantly higher than that fabricated by the DC one (13.29%), which demonstrates improved stability under ambient conditions for over 160 hours. Hysteresis assessment, SCLC analysis, and Shockley diode modeling show our PSCs' low defect densities and high interface quality. Moreover, DFT was applied to indirectly analyze the effects of NTP on the perovskites, focusing on quantum confinement effects and lattice arrangement's influence on the optoelectronic characteristics of MAPbI3 nanoparticles. The findings confirm that NTP synthesis leads to more optimal PSCs, showing notable improvement in photovoltaics.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1039/d4mh01430h
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85209634249

Author(s)
Mahiny, Milad

Faculty of Physics

Lotfi, Hossein

University of Tabriz

Beigmohammadi, Maryam

University of Bonab

Pooriraj, Mehdi

Materials and Energy Research Centre Iran

Heydari, Maryam

Faculty of Physics

Shirzad, Alireza

Faculty of Physics

Mahfouzi, Hamidreza

Sahand University of Technology

Nazeeruddin, Mohammad Khaja  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Mohd Yusoff, Abd Rashid Bin

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Movla, Hossein

Faculty of Physics

Date Issued

2024

Published in
Materials Horizons
Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LCOM  
Available on Infoscience
January 25, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/244057
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