Controlling the Optical and Electrical Properties of Perovskite Films and Enhancing Solar Cell Performance Using the Photonic Curing Process

The most common method of processing metal oxide and perovskite thin films in the laboratory is thermal annealing (TA), which is a constraint for the commercialization of large-scale perovskite solar cells. Here, we present a photonic curing (PC) process to produce fully photonically annealed perovskite cells-a fast process with well-controlled, short light pulses-to develop perovskite photovoltaic devices with high efficiency. We also demonstrate how to use the parameters of the photonic annealing system to control the optical, electrical, morphological, and structural properties of perovskite layers for photovoltaic device applications. The effect of PC treatment on the microstructure, granularity, and electronic properties was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence (PL), and transient photocurrent (TPC). The degree of conversion of the perovskite precursor and its influence on the electronic structure have been identified. SnO2 and perovskite films were treated with a single pulse and produced PCE comparable to control samples treated by TA.