AUTHOR=Papadas Ioannis T. , Ioakeimidis Apostolos , Vamvasakis Ioannis , Eleftheriou Polyvios , Armatas Gerasimos S. , Choulis Stelios A. 

TITLE=All-Inorganic p−n Heterojunction Solar Cells by Solution Combustion Synthesis Using N-type FeMnO3 Perovskite Photoactive Layer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.754487

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.754487

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=This study outlines the synthesis and physicochemical characteristics of a solution-processable iron manganite (FeMnO3) nanoparticles via a chemical combustion method using tartartic acid as a fuel and demonstrates the performance of this material as a n-type photoactive layer in all-oxide solar cells. It is shown that the solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method enables the formation of pure crystal phase FeMnO3 with controllable particle size. Moreover, to assemble a network of connected FeMnO3 nanoparticles, β-alanine was used as a capping agent and dimethylformamide (DMF) as a polar aprotic solvent for the colloidal dispersion of FeMnO3 NPs. This procedure yields a ~500 nm thick photoactive layer. The proposed method is crucial to obtain functional solution processed NiO/FeMnO3 heterojunction inorganic photovoltaics. Photovoltaic performance and solar cell device limitations of the NiO/FeMnO3-based heterojunction solar cells are presented.