Rapid Fabrication of NiO Nanoparticle Film as Hole Transport Layer Using Gas Phase Microplasma

When and Where

Dec 1, 2022
11:45am - 12:00pm

Sheraton, 3rd Floor, Hampton

Presenter

Dilli Babu Padmanaban

Subha Sadhu

Warda Mushtaq

Zachary Holman

Davide Mariotti

Co-Author(s)

Dilli Babu Padmanaban¹,Subha Sadhu¹,Warda Mushtaq²,Zachary Holman²,Davide Mariotti¹

Ulster University¹,Arizona State University²

Abstract

Dilli Babu Padmanaban¹,Subha Sadhu¹,Warda Mushtaq²,Zachary Holman²,Davide Mariotti¹

Ulster University¹,Arizona State University²

There is always a challenge in direct application of nanomaterials. Many nanoparticle synthesis techniques are intrinsically accompanied with post and pre-processes that are costlier and time consuming. In the light of this, atmospheric pressure microplasmas-based techniques are simple and could provide rapid, time efficient solutions for a wide range of applications. Microplasmas are special kind of sub-millimetre plasmas that have achieved attractive performance in nanomaterial processing.1,2 This technique has been used for synthesis of several nanomaterials such as metals and transition metal oxides.3 In this talk, we want to show the synthesis of nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticle using gas phase microplasmas and demonstrating its application as a hole transport layer for perovskite solar cell. NiO is a well-known p-type semiconductor used widely as electrode materials for solar cells, batteries, and supercapacitors.4,5,6 Although NiO nanoparticles and films were synthesised by other physical and chemical based techniques, these often present drawbacks such as precursor toxicity and post-synthesis steps.7 Here we show the one-step preparation of NiO nanoparticles with a solid metallic Ni wire as main precursor and He/O2 gas mixture. The nanoparticles were characterised and found to have a particle size distribution around ~5 nm and consists of mostly NiO cubic ‘Bunsenite’ crystal phase for various inlet oxygen gas fraction. When directly deposited, nanoparticle films show a planar or columnar features depending on process duration and O2 gas concentration. Further, we will also present the preliminary results on the application of NiO nanoparticle film as a transport layer for solar cell. Reference (1) Chiang, W.; Mariotti, D.; Sankaran, R. M.; Eden, J. G.; Ostrikov, K. (Ken). Microplasmas for Advanced Materials and Devices. Adv. Mater. 2020, 32 (18), 1905508. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201905508. (2) Mariotti, D.; Belmonte, T.; Benedikt, J.; Velusamy, T.; Jain, G.; Švrček, V. Low-Temperature Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Processes for “Green” Third Generation Photovoltaics. Plasma Process. Polym. 2016, 13 (1), 70–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.201500187. (3) Mariotti, D.; Sankaran, R. M. Microplasmas for Nanomaterials Synthesis. J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys. 2010, 43 (32), 323001. https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/43/32/323001. (4) Yin, X.; Guo, Y.; Xie, H.; Que, W.; Kong, L. B. Nickel Oxide as Efficient Hole Transport Materials for Perovskite Solar Cells. Sol. RRL 2019, 3 (5), 1900001. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201900001. (5) Li, W.; Erickson, E. M.; Manthiram, A. High-Nickel Layered Oxide Cathodes for Lithium-Based Automotive Batteries. Nat. Energy 2020, 5 (1), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0513-0. (6) Luo, Z.; Liu, L.; Yang, X.; Luo, X.; Bi, P.; Fu, Z.; Pang, A.; Li, W.; Yi, Y. Revealing the Charge Storage Mechanism of Nickel Oxide Electrochromic Supercapacitors. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12 (35), 39098–39107. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c09606. (7) Narender, S. S.; Varma, V. V. S.; Srikar, C. S.; Ruchitha, J.; Varma, P. A.; Praveen, B. V. S. Nickel Oxide Nanoparticles: A Brief Review of Their Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications. Chem. Eng. Technol. 2022, 45 (3), 397–409. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.202100442.