Fabrication and Characterization of Perovskite Solar Cells: An Integrated Laboratory Experience

Perovskite solar cells have garnered exponential research interest due to their facile fabrication, solution processability, and low cost. However, there have been limited efforts to integrate this class of materials into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Therefore, we designed an integrated laboratory experiment in our upper-division integrated laboratory sequence to teach students about research procedures and tools used in physical, organic, inorganic, and materials chemistry. This laboratory sequence involves conversion of sunlight to electricity, which is one of the most challenging renewable energy issues we are facing as a society. In this work, upper-level undergraduates study four variables affecting the morphology and optical properties of perovskites: solvent treatment, percent of water added to a precursor mixture, cation substitution, and precursor temperature. To do so, students deposit uniform films of the material using spin-coating and annealing, and then probe the resulting film properties via scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, solid-state UV-vis spectroscopy, and current voltage measurements. Students are able to execute the simple experimental setups and critically interpret, and compare, their results. Further, students are asked to question and understand structure property relationships to arrive at a fuller understanding of the light-to-electricity conversion process. Importantly, this laboratory prepares students for cutting-edge inorganic and materials research topics.