Hydrothermally Treated SnO2 as the Electron Transport Layer in High-Efficiency Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells with a Certificated Efficiency of 17.3%

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are one of the most promising solar energy conversion technologies owing to their rapidly developing power conversion efficiency (PCE). Low-temperature solution processing of the perovskite layer enables the fabrication of flexible devices. However, their application has been greatly hindered due to the lack of strategies to fabricate high-quality electron transport layers (ETLs) at the low temperatures (approximate to 100 degrees C) that most flexible plastic substrates can withstand, leading to poor performances for flexible PSCs. In this work, through combining the spin-coating process with a hydrothermal treatment method, ligand-free and highly crystalline SnO2 ETLs are successfully fabricated at low temperature. The flexible PSCs based on this SnO2 ETL exhibit an excellent PCE of 18.1% (certified 17.3%). The flexible PSCs maintained 85% of the initial PCE after 1000 bending cycles and over 90% of the initial PCE after being stored in ambient air for 30 days without encapsulation. The investigation reveals that hydrothermal treatment not only promotes the complete removal of organic surfactants coated onto the surface of the SnO2 nanoparticles by hot water vapor but also enhances crystallization through the high vapor pressure of water, leading to the formation of high-quality SnO2 ETLs.