Potassium doped methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) thin films as a potential absorber for perovskite solar cells; structural, morphological, electronic and optoelectric properties

In this article, we have demonstrated the doping of K in the light absorbing CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite i.e. (M = CH3, A = NH3; x = 0-1). One of the major merits of methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) perovskites is that they act as efficient absorbing material of light in photovoltaic cell imparting long carrier lifetime and optimum band gap. The structural, morphological, electronic and optoelectric properties of potassium (K) doped light absorber methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) perovskites are reported here i.e. Kx(MA)1−xPbI3 (M = CH3, A =NH3; x = 0-1). The thin films of perovskites (x = 0-1) were deposited by spin coating on cleaned FTO substrates and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), current-voltage (IV), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) analysis. The organic constituents i.e. MA = CH3NH3, in perovskites solar cells induce instability even at the room temperature. To overcome such instabilities we have replaced the organic constituents by K because both of them have electropositive nature. Potassium successfully replaces the CH3NH3. Initially, this compound grows in a tetragonal crystal structure, however, beyond 30% doping of potassium orthorhombic distortions are induced in the parent tetragonal unit cell. Such phase transformation is microscopically visible in the electron micrographs of doped samples; cubic grains for MAPbI3 begin to transform into strip like structures in K-doped samples. The resistance of the samples is decreased for partial K-doping, which we suggested to be arising due to the electropositive nature of K. It is observed that the binding energy difference between Pb4f and I3d core levels are very similar in all the investigated systems and show formal oxidation states. Also, the partially doped samples showed increased absorption and bandgaps around 1.5 eV which is an optimum value for solar absorption.