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In recent years, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has established itself as the state-of-the-art technique for the deposition of SnO 2 buffer layers grown between the fullerene electron transport layer (ETL) and the ITO top electrode in metal halide perovskite-based photovoltaics. The SnO 2 layer shields the underlying layers, i.e., the fullerene-derivative materials such as C60 and PCBM, as well as the perovskite absorber, from water ingress and damage induced by the sputtering of the transparent front contact. Our study undertakes a comprehensive investigation of the impact of SnO 2 ALD processing on fullerenes by means of in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and transmission infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). While no difference in SnO 2 bulk properties is observed and the perovskite absorber degradation is nearly entirely avoided during exposure to heat and vacuum, when the absorber is introduced beneath the organic ETLs, a SnO 2 growth delay of about 50 ALD cycles is measured on PCBM, whereas the delay is limited to 10 cycles in the case of growth on C60. Notably, FTIR measurements show that while C60 remains chemically unaffected during SnO 2 ALD growth, PCBM undergoes chemical modification, specifically of its ester groups. The onset of these modifications corresponds with the detection of the onset, after the initial delay, of ALD SnO 2 growth. It is expected that the modification that the PCBM layer undergoes upon ALD SnO 2 processing is responsible for the systematic lower photovoltaic device performance in the case of PCBM-based devices, with respect to C60-based devices.

The metal halide perovskite absorbers are prone to surface defects, which severely limit the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and the operational stability of the perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, trace amounts of bithiophene propylammonium iodide (bi-TPAI) are applied to modulate the surface properties of the gas-quenched perovskite. It is found that the bi-TPAI surface treatment has negligible impact on the perovskite morphology, but it can induce a defect passivation effect and facilitate the charge carrier extraction, contributing to the gain in the open-circuit voltage ( V oc ) and fill factor. As a result, the PCE of the gas-quenched sputtered NiO x -based inverted PSCs is enhanced from the initial 20.0% to 22.0%. Most importantly, the bi-TPAI treatment can largely alleviate or even eliminate the burn-in process during the maximum power point tracking measurement, improving the operational stability of the devices.

Perovskite photovoltaics has achieved conversion efficiencies of 26.0% by optimizing the optoelectronic properties of the absorber and its interfaces with charge transport layers (CTLs). However, commonly adopted organic CTLs can lead to parasitic absorption and device instability. Therefore, metal oxides like atomic layer-deposited (ALD) SnO 2 in combination with fullerene-based electron transport layers have been introduced to enhance mechanical and thermal stability. Instead, when ALD SnO 2 is directly processed on the absorber, i.e., without the fullerene layer, chemical modifications of the inorganic fraction of the perovskite occur, compromising the device performance. This study focuses on the organic fraction, particularly the formamidinium cation (FA + ), in a CsFAPb(I,Br) 3 perovskite. By employing in situ infrared spectroscopy, we investigate the impact of ALD processing on the perovskite, such as vacuum level, temperature, and exposure to half and full ALD cycles using tetrakis(dimethylamido)-Sn(IV) (TDMA-Sn) and H 2 O. We observe that exposing the absorber to vacuum conditions or water half-cycles has a negligible effect on the chemistry of the perovskite. However, prolonged exposure at 100 °C for 90 min results in a loss of 0.7% of the total formamidinium-related vibrational features compared to the pristine perovskite. Supported by density functional theory calculations, we speculate that FA + deprotonates and that formamidine desorbs from the perovskite surface. Furthermore, the interaction between TDMA-Sn and FA + induces more decomposition of the perovskite surface compared to vacuum, temperature, or H 2 O exposure. During the exposure to 10 ALD half-cycles of TDMA-Sn, 4% of the total FA + -related infrared features are lost compared to the pristine perovskite. Additionally, IR spectroscopy suggests the formation and trapping of sym -triazine, i.e., a decomposition product of FA + . These studies enable to decouple the effects occurring during direct ALD processing on the perovskite and highlight the crucial role of the Sn precursor in affecting the perovskite surface chemistry and compromising the device performance.