Enhancing photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells utilizing germanium nanoparticles

Morphological and crystalline control over hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite films is pivotal for efficient photovoltaic (PV) performance devices. Yet, this remains very challenging for solution processed perovskite solar cells (PVSCs), especially mesoscopic PVSCs, due to the complicated crystallization kinetics of hybrid semiconductor materials within dynamic spin-coating and post annealing. In this work, colloidal Ge nanoparticles (NPs) were added onto a mesoporous TiO₂ (m-TiO₂) electron transporting layer (ETL) to regulate perovskite crystal growth. Systematic investigation and optimization disclose that incorporation of an appropriate ratio of Ge NPs onto the m-TiO₂ ETL can simultaneously increase the size of the CH₃NH₃PbI₃ crystals, decrease the number of the grain boundaries and promote the interfacial properties of perovskite/m-TiO₂. The related mechanisms are clarified through detailed morphology and crystal structure analyses. The electron mobility of the perovskite absorber, determined using the space charge limited current (SCLC) method, was increased by over 5 times when an optimized amount of Ge NPs were employed. Average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.59% was achieved from 16 cells and the best PCE of 19.6% was attained via the addition of the optimized amount of Ge NPs. We study the fundamentals of optics and physics behind the PVSC device based on the high refractive index Ge NPs. This work offers an innovative scenario to enhance the performance of perovskite based optoelectronics by employing optically stable, chemically inert, low-cost and green semiconductor NPs.