Room-temperature atomic layer deposition of Al2 O3 : Impact on efficiency, stability and surface properties in perovskite solar cells

In this work, solar cells with a freshly made CH3 NH3 PbI3 perovskite film showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.4 % whereas the one with 50 days aged perovskite film only 6.1 %. However, when the aged perovskite was covered with a layer of Al2 O3 deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at room temperature (RT), the PCE value was clearly enhanced. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study showed that the ALD precursors are chemically active only at the perovskite surface and passivate it. Moreover, the RT-ALD-Al2 O3 -covered perovskite films showed enhanced ambient air stability