Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin.

Special Issue: Solar Energy Conversion and Storage

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Mist-water-induced surface reconstruction for efficient carbon-based inorganic CsPbBr3 perovskite solar cells

Dazheng Chen1,2, Yibing He1, Zihao Wang1, Zeyulin Zhang1, Zhizhe Wang3, Baichuan Tian1, Yanan Zhang1, Yanshuang Ba1, Weidong Zhu1,2, Long Zhou1,2, He Xi1,2, Chunfu Zhang1,2, Jincheng Zhang1, Yue Hao1   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Faculty of Integrated Circuit, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, Shaanxi Province, China;
    2 Guangzhou Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Innovation Center, Guangzhou Institute of Technology, Xidian University, Guangzhou 510555, Guangdong Province, China;
    3 Science and Technology on Reliability Physics and Application of Electronic Component Laboratory, China Electronic Product Reliability and Environmental Testing Research Institute, Guangzhou 511370, Guangdong Province, China
  • Received:2025-09-29 Revised:2025-11-14 Accepted:2025-11-14
  • Contact: Dazheng Chen, Chunfu Zhang E-mail:dzchen@xidian.edu.cn;cfzhang@xidian.edu.cn

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Abstract: With the high absorption coefficient, simple preparation method, and the best stability in the halide perovskites, all-inorganic cesium-lead-bromide (CsPbBr3) has attracted increasing attentions in the photovoltaic solar cells. However, the solution-processed CsPbBr3 films usually have many surface defects and large roughness, leading to large open-circuit voltage (VOC) loss and relatively poor efficiency in solar cells. Thus, an effective surface treatment method is highly anticipated to improve the film quality and device performance. It is known that water is one of the most important causes of perovskite decomposition, it can also be used to adjust the crystallization and growth of perovskite films, and the key lies in how to direct the role of water during perovskite formation. In this paper, an efficient and scalable strategy of water-mist-induced surface reconstruction for CsPbBr3 films was proposed and realized by a low-cost, vacuum-free mist chemical vapor deposition (Mist-CVD) system. Inspired by the Leidenfrost effect principle, the water-induced reactions of decomposition and crystallization occur on the local high-temperature surface of CsPbBr3. This reconstruction produced the high-quality CsPbBr3 films at an optimal treat condition of 275 ℃ for 30 min. According to the X-Ray diffraction (XRD) results, the mist treatment could boost the phase transform from impurity phases (Cs4PbBr6, CsPb2Br5) to CsPbBr3 and the film surface obtained the purest CsPbBr3 phase. The atomic force microscope (AFM) tests showed that the surface roughness of target film was reduced from 29.8 nm to 12.7 nm. And the laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) images (4 mm×4 mm) verified the enhanced uniformity of CsPbBr3 film with mist-treatment. Combined with the higher light absorption and longer carrier lifetime, the carbon-based solar cells achieved the improvement of average power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 8.26% to 9.64%, with the champion VOC of 1.50 V and PCE of 10.06%@9 mm2 (8.11%@0.6 cm2). The PCE could maintain over 90% of the original values after 30 days stored in ambient air (20 ℃, 40% RH). The devices also presented better repeatability and steady outputs performance. The statistical results demonstrated that this mist-treatment could improve all photovoltaic parameters and the higher VOC was mainly responsible for the enhanced PCE. Therefore, the Mist-CVD water treatment could reconstruct the CsPbBr3 films with low-defect and smooth surface, which paves the way to further break the efficiency bottleneck of CsPbBr3 perovskite solar cells and promotes the commercialization in the future.

Key words: CsPbBr3, Surface reconstruction, Water, Mist chemical vapor deposition, Perovskite solar cells