Amorphous Tin Oxide as a Low-Temperature-Processed Electron-Transport Layer for Organic and Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells

Chemical bath deposition (CBD) of tin oxide (SnO) thin films as an electron-transport layer (ETL) in a planar-heterojunction n-i-p organohalide lead perovskite and organic bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells is reported. The amorphous SnO (a-SnO) films are grown from a nontoxic aqueous bath of tin chloride at a very low temperature (55 °C) and do not require postannealing treatment to work very effectively as an ETL in a planar-heterojunction n-i-p organohalide lead perovskite or organic BHJ solar cells, in lieu of the commonly used ETL materials titanium oxide (TiO) and zinc oxide (ZnO), respectively. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements on the glass/indium-tin oxide (ITO)/SnO/methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI)/2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9′-spirobifluorene device stack indicate that extraction of photogenerated electrons is facilitated by a perfect alignment of the conduction bands at the SnO/MAPbI interface, while the deep valence band of SnO ensures strong hole-blocking properties. Despite exhibiting very low electron mobility, the excellent interfacial energetics combined with high transparency (E > 4 eV) and uniform substrate coverage make the a-SnO ETL prepared by CBD an excellent candidate for the potentially low-cost and large-scale fabrication of organohalide lead perovskite and organic photovoltaics.