Viscosity, surface tension, density and contact angle of selected PbI2, PbCl2 and methylammonium lead halide perovskite solutions used in perovskite solar cells

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are currently under vigorous research and development, owing to their compelling power conversion efficiencies. PSCs are solution-processed and, therefore, are fabricated using casting and printing methods, such as spin, spray and blade coating. The coating characteristics significantly depend on the physical and rheological properties of the solutions. Thus, due to the scarcity of such properties, in this work, we report the surface tension, viscosity, density, and contact angle of selected methylammonium lead halide perovskite solutions, in order to gain insight into the behavior of the perovskite solutions and the range of such physical properties. The contact angles were measured on PEDOT:PSS and compact TiO2 (c-TiO2) substrates, commonly used as the underneath layers of the perovskite film. In total, 12 solutions of CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbI3-xClx dissolved in common solvents, as well as solutions of PbI2, PbCl2, and CH3NH3I were tested. Among the results, it is shown that the tested perovskite solutions are Newtonian, the apparent contact angles on the mesoporous TiO2 (m-TiO2) are close to zero, on the PEDOT:PSS are around 10°, and on the c-TiO2 are around 30°. Also, contact angle hysteresis is observed in the case of the c-TiO2 substrates. Representative impact dynamics and spreading of perovskite solution droplets are also studied, to demonstrate the importance of the solution properties and process parameters on the coating process.