Thermally stable propanethiol-ligand exchanged Ag nanoparticles for enhanced dispersion in perovskite solar cells via an effective incorporation method

Abstract

In this research, ligand exchanged silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were incorporated into perovskite by an effective method during the solvent treatment. Since PVP-capped or bare-Ag NPs tend to aggregate in organic solvents, the original capping agent was replaced by propanethiol which reduced aggregation and enhanced thermal stability, which was confirmed by Zeta-radius measurement and morphological analysis. Accordingly, Ag NPs with propanethiol improved light absorption by facilitating scattering which contributed to increased charge generation/transport with reduced recombination. The effective ligand exchange and incorporation method can be a useful approach for device stability between Ag NPs and methyl ammonium lead halide perovskite. (C) 2017 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.