THE HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS OF SNO₂ NANOPARTICLES DERIVED FROM TIN CHLORIDE PRECURSOR FOR THE ELECTRON TRANSPORT LAYER OF PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELLS

Tin oxide (SnO₂) semiconductor is recognized as a highly promising material for the electron transport layer (ETL) in pe-rovskite solar cells (PSC) due to their wide band gap energy and high electron mobility. This material has been considered as the poten-tial alternative material for substituting the conventional titanium dioxide (TiO₂). In the form of nanostructure material, it is expected that SnO₂ as the ETL in PSC device can be significantly improved owing to its high surface area leading to more intensive photon absorption. In this present study, SnO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized via the hydrothermal method with temperature variations ranging from 120 °C to 160 °C for 16 hours. The as-synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and an ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer. The SnO₂ nanoparticles were then integrated into the PSC device as the ETL, and the performance testing was conducted using a semiconductor parameter analyzer to obtain the I–V curve. On the basis of investigation results, it has been found that the temperature used during the hydrothermal process plays a crucial role in determining the crystallinity, morphology, and band gap energy of the SnO₂ nanoparticles. The results of the PSC performance test indicate that SnO₂ nanoparticles synthesized at a hydrothermal temperature of 150 °C demonstrated the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.89 %. This outcome confirms the viability of SnO₂ nanoparticles produced through the hydrothermal method.