Thermal-assisted photo-annealed TiO₂ thin films for perovskite solar cells fabricated under ambient air

We report herein a facile process for the fabrication of amorphous TiO₂ thin films under ambient atmosphere using thermal-assisted UV-annealing (~125 °C). The TiO₂ films were prepared via spin-coating titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) precursor and sequential photo-annealing at various temperatures. Additional soft annealing during the UV-annealing altered the surface chemical states and electrical band structures of the amorphous TiO₂ films. The UV-annealing at room temperature leads to a higher conduction band minimum level of the film and a smaller amount of hydroxyl group at the film surface, compared to the thermal-assisted (100–250 °C) UV-annealing or the thermal-only annealing (500 °C). Effects of the temperature during the UV-annealing process on photovoltaic properties were investigated by fabricating planar heterojunction perovskite cells with methylammonium lead triiodide under ambient atmosphere. At higher temperature of 100–150 °C, compared to room temperature, fill factor and power conversion efficiency were enhanced, and hysteresis in current-voltage curves were reduced. Impedance analysis demonstrates that the capacitance is significantly reduced, leading to suppressed hysteresis of the perovskite solar cells. Finally, we achieved a power-conversion efficiency of 20.36% (for the reverse scan) and a stabilized power output of 18.57% from a 125 °C -photo-annealed TiO₂-based device.