DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Deposition-Dependent Coverage and Performance of Phosphonic Acid Interface Modifiers in Halide Perovskite Optoelectronics

Journal Article · · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

In this work, we study the effect of various deposition methods for phosphonic acid interface modifiers commonly pursued as self-assembled monolayers in high-performance metal halide perovskite photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes. We compare the deposition of (2-(3,6-diiodo-9H-carbazol-9-yl)ethyl)phosphonic acid onto indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom contacts by varying three parameters: the method of deposition, specifically spin coating or prolonged dip coating; ITO surface treatment via HCl/FeCl3 etching; and use in combination with a second modifier, 1,6-hexylenediphosphonic acid. We demonstrate that varying these modification protocols can impact time-resolved photoluminescence carrier lifetimes and quasi-Fermi level splitting of perovskite films deposited onto the phosphonic acid-modified ITO. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy shows an increase in the effective work function after phosphonic acid modification and clear evidence for photoemission from carbazole functional groups at the ITO surface. We used X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to probe differences in phosphonic acid coverage on the metal oxide contact and show that perovskite samples grown on ITO with the highest phosphonic acid coverage exhibit the longest carrier lifetimes. Finally, we establish that device performance follows these same trends. These results indicate that the reactivity, heterogeneity, and composition of the bottom contact help to control recombination rates and therefore power conversion efficiencies. ITO etching, prolonged deposition times for phosphonic acids via dip coating, and the use of a secondary, more hydrophilic bisphosphonic acid all contribute to improvements in surface coverage, carrier lifetime, and device efficiency. Furthermore, these improvements each have a positive impact, and we achieve the best results when all three strategies are implemented.

Research Organization:
University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship; Office of Naval Research (ONR); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0010502; SC0001084; SC0013957
OSTI ID:
3029082
Journal Information:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal Name: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces Journal Issue: 49 Vol. 17; ISSN 1944-8244; ISSN 1944-8252
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (68)

Tuning the Surface Energy of Hole Transport Layers Based on Carbazole Self‐Assembled Monolayers for Highly Efficient Sn/Pb Perovskite Solar Cells journal August 2023
On the Relation between the Open‐Circuit Voltage and Quasi‐Fermi Level Splitting in Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells journal July 2019
18.9% Efficient Organic Solar Cells Based on n‐Doped Bulk‐Heterojunction and Halogen‐Substituted Self‐Assembled Monolayers as Hole Extracting Interlayers journal October 2022
Co‐assembled Monolayers as Hole‐Selective Contact for High‐Performance Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells with Optimized Recombination Loss and Long‐Term Stability journal June 2022
π‐Expanded Carbazoles as Hole‐Selective Self‐Assembled Monolayers for High‐Performance Perovskite Solar Cells journal November 2022
Unraveling the Morphological and Energetic Properties of 2PACz Self‐Assembled Monolayers Fabricated With Upscaling Deposition Methods journal August 2024
Tuning Self‐Assembly of Hole‐Selective Monolayers for Reproducible Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells journal February 2025
Surface conditioning of indium-tin oxide anodes for organic light-emitting diodes journal December 2003
Absolute work function measurement by using photoelectron spectroscopy journal November 2021
Impact of the valence band energy alignment at the hole-collecting interface on the photostability of wide band-gap perovskite solar cells journal September 2024
Nanoscale Visualization of Electrochemical Activity at Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes journal March 2022
High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells journal July 2020
Design Rules for Obtaining Narrow Luminescence from Semiconductors Made in Solution journal June 2023
Self-Assembled Monolayers for Interfacial Engineering in Solution-Processed Thin-Film Electronic Devices: Design, Fabrication, and Applications journal February 2024
Phosphonic Acids for Interfacial Engineering of Transparent Conductive Oxides journal May 2016
Sulfur-Donor Solvents Strongly Coordinate Pb 2+ in Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Perovskite Precursor Solutions journal June 2020
Influence of the Processing Environment on the Surface Composition and Electronic Structure of Size-Quantized CdSe Quantum Dots journal September 2020
Models of Surface Morphology and Electronic Structure of Indium Oxide and Indium Tin Oxide for Several Surface Hydroxylation Levels journal January 2018
Seeking a Structure–Function Relationship for γ-Al 2 O 3 Surfaces journal October 2018
Optical Fingerprints of Polynuclear Complexes in Lead Halide Perovskite Precursor Solutions journal March 2021
Functionalized Substrates for Reduced Nonradiative Recombination in Metal-Halide Perovskites journal December 2024
Compositional and Interfacial Engineering Yield High-Performance and Stable p-i-n Perovskite Solar Cells and Mini-Modules journal March 2021
Enhanced Self-Assembled Monolayer Surface Coverage by ALD NiO in p-i-n Perovskite Solar Cells journal December 2021
Tuning Hole-Injection in Organic-Light Emitting Diodes with Self-Assembled Monolayers journal July 2024
Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells Above 30% Conversion Efficiency on Submicron-Sized Textured Czochralski-Silicon Bottom Cells with Improved Hole-Transport Layers journal October 2024
Diamine Surface Passivation and Postannealing Enhance the Performance of Silicon-Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells journal June 2025
Self-Assembled Monolayer Enables Hole Transport Layer-Free Organic Solar Cells with 18% Efficiency and Improved Operational Stability journal August 2020
Interfacial Engineering with a Hole-Selective Self-Assembled Monolayer for Tin Perovskite Solar Cells via a Two-Step Fabrication journal November 2021
Ethylenediamine Addition Improves Performance and Suppresses Phase Instabilities in Mixed-Halide Perovskites journal November 2022
Wettability Improvement of a Carbazole-Based Hole-Selective Monolayer for Reproducible Perovskite Solar Cells journal January 2023
Connecting Interfacial Mechanical Adhesion, Efficiency, and Operational Stability in High Performance Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells journal April 2024
Interpreting Halide Perovskite Semiconductor Photoluminescence Kinetics journal May 2024
Minimal Effect of the Hole-Transport Material Ionization Potential on the Open-Circuit Voltage of Perovskite Solar Cells journal August 2016
Charge-Carrier Mobilities in Metal Halide Perovskites: Fundamental Mechanisms and Limits journal June 2017
Reducing Surface Recombination Velocities at the Electrical Contacts Will Improve Perovskite Photovoltaics journal December 2018
Water Structures Reveal Local Hydrophobicity on the In2O3(111) Surface journal November 2022
Increased Brightness and Reduced Efficiency Droop in Perovskite Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes Using Carbazole-Based Phosphonic Acid Interface Modifiers journal January 2025
Perfluorinated Self-Assembled Monolayers Enhance the Stability and Efficiency of Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells journal January 2020
The Modification of Indium Tin Oxide with Phosphonic Acids: Mechanism of Binding, Tuning of Surface Properties, and Potential for Use in Organic Electronic Applications journal October 2011
Interface Dipoles Arising from Self-Assembled Monolayers on Gold:  UV−Photoemission Studies of Alkanethiols and Partially Fluorinated Alkanethiols journal September 2003
Organophosphonate Self-Assembled Monolayers for Gate Dielectric Surface Modification of Pentacene-Based Organic Thin-Film Transistors:  A Comparative Study journal November 2007
Competing Effects of Fluorination on the Orientation of Aromatic and Aliphatic Phosphonic Acid Monolayers on Indium Tin Oxide journal July 2013
Phosphonic Acid Modification of Indium−Tin Oxide Electrodes: Combined XPS/UPS/Contact Angle Studies journal April 2008
Pb(II) Adsorption on Isostructural Hydrated Alumina and Hematite (0001) Surfaces: A DFT Study journal January 2009
Tuning the Effective Work Function of Gold and Silver Using ω-Functionalized Alkanethiols: Varying Surface Composition through Dilution and Choice of Terminal Groups journal October 2009
Formation of Thiolate and Phosphonate Adlayers on Indium−Tin Oxide:  Optical and Electronic Characterization journal September 2002
Orientation of Phenylphosphonic Acid Self-Assembled Monolayers on a Transparent Conductive Oxide: A Combined NEXAFS, PM-IRRAS, and DFT Study journal February 2013
Surface Composition and Electrical and Electrochemical Properties of Freshly Deposited and Acid-Etched Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes journal October 2007
Electrical Property Heterogeneity at Transparent Conductive Oxide/Organic Semiconductor Interfaces: Mapping Contact Ohmicity Using Conducting-Tip Atomic Force Microscopy journal October 2012
Future optoelectronics unlocked by ‘doping’ strategy journal September 2024
Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells journal July 2013
Co-deposition of hole-selective contact and absorber for improving the processability of perovskite solar cells journal March 2023
Improved reverse bias stability in p–i–n perovskite solar cells with optimized hole transport materials and less reactive electrodes journal August 2024
Molecular engineering of contact interfaces for high-performance perovskite solar cells journal November 2022
Controllable p- and n-type behaviours in emissive perovskite semiconductors journal September 2024
Perovskite light-emitting diodes journal April 2022
The impact of energy alignment and interfacial recombination on the internal and external open-circuit voltage of perovskite solar cells journal January 2019
Conformal monolayer contacts with lossless interfaces for perovskite single junction and monolithic tandem solar cells journal January 2019
Rapid hybrid perovskite film crystallization from solution journal January 2021
A carbazole-based self-assembled monolayer as the hole transport layer for efficient and stable Cs0.25FA0.75Sn0.5Pb0.5I3solar cells journal January 2023
Highly reproducible self-assembled monolayer based perovskite solar cells via amphiphilic polyelectrolyte journal January 2024
Theoretical study of the surface modification of indium tin oxide with trifluorophenyl phosphonic acid molecules: impact of coverage density and binding geometry journal January 2010
Adsorption studies of a phosphonic acid on ITO: film coverage, purity, and induced electronic structure changes journal January 2014
Deep vs shallow nature of oxygen vacancies and consequent n -type carrier concentrations in transparent conducting oxides journal May 2018
Electron-Hole Diffusion Lengths Exceeding 1 Micrometer in an Organometal Trihalide Perovskite Absorber journal October 2013
A mixed-cation lead mixed-halide perovskite absorber for tandem solar cells journal January 2016
Monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell with >29% efficiency by enhanced hole extraction journal December 2020
Inverse design workflow discovers hole-transport materials tailored for perovskite solar cells journal December 2024