Electrical Properties of Ultra-thin TiO2 Compact Layer on FTO for Perovskite Solar cells

Abstract

A TiO2 compact layer or blocking layer plays a crucial role in a hybrid organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite solar cell because it can prevent the carrier recombination at the interface of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and perovskite layers. There are several methods to fabricate this layer such as spray pyrolysis or spin-coating which is solution-based synthesis that is difficult to avoid pinholes in the surface of the blocking layer. In this work, TiO2 blocking layers are fabricated by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering using Ti metallic target with O2 partial pressure in Ar atmosphere on FTO coated glasses. The controlled parameters for the deposition of TiO2 compact layer are RF power, O2 partial pressure, and deposition time. The optimization of the TiO2 compact layers are found from the diode I-V characteristics between the TiO2/FTO interfaces. The resistance between the TiO2/FTO interfaces deviates from an ohmic contact towards a diode behavior when the thickness of TiO2 is increased. The thickness of the films is directly measured by surface profilometer. In addition, the UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy is used to observe the optical transmission of the films.