ABSTRACT
Perovskite semiconductors have emerged as competitive candidates for photovoltaic applications due to their exceptional optoelectronic properties. However, the impact of moisture instability on perovskite films is still a key challenge for perovskite devices. While substantial effort is focused on preventing moisture interaction during the fabrication process, it is demonstrated that low moisture sensitivity, enhanced crystallization, and high performance can actually be achieved by exposure to high water content (up to 25 vol%) during fabrication with an aqueous-containing perovskite precursor. The perovskite solar cells fabricated by this aqueous method show good reproducibility of high efficiency with average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.7% and champion PCE of 20.1% under solar simulation. This study shows that water-perovskite interactions do not necessarily negatively impact the perovskite film preparation process even at the highest efficiencies and that exposure to high contents of water can actually enable humidity tolerance during fabrication in air.
ABSTRACT
Inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) incorporating poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT) as the hole transport/extraction layer have been broadly investigated in recent years. However, most PSCs which incorporate PEDOT as the hole transport layer (HTL) suffer from lower device performance stemming from reduced photocurrent and low open-circuit voltage around 0.95 V. Here, we report an ultrathin PEDOT layer as the HTL for efficient inverted structure PSCs. The transparency, conductivity, and resulting film morphology were studied and compared with traditional architectures and thicker PEDOT layers. The PSC device incorporating an ultrathin PEDOT layer shows significant improvement in short-circuit current density (J SC), open-circuit voltage (V OC), and power conversion efficiency. Because ultrathin PEDOT layers can be easily obtained by dilution, this study suggests a simple way to improve the PSC performance and provide a route to further reduce the fabrication complexity and cost of PSCs.
ABSTRACT
Halide perovskite solar cells have seen dramatic progress in performance over the past several years. Certified efficiencies of inverted structure (p-i-n) devices have now exceeded 20%. In these p-i-n devices, fullerene compounds are the most popular electron-transfer materials. However, the full function of fullerenes in perovskite solar cells is still under investigation, and the mechanism of photocurrent hysteresis suppression by fullerene remains unclear. In previous reports, thick fullerene layers (>20 nm) were necessary to fully cover the perovskite film surface to make good contact with perovskite film and avoid large leakage currents. In addition, the solution-processed fullerene layer has been broadly thought to infiltrate into the perovskite film to passivate traps on grain boundary surfaces, causing suppressed photocurrent hysteresis. In this work, we demonstrate an efficient perovskite photovoltaic device with only 1 nm C60 deposited by vapor deposition as the electron-selective material. Utilizing a combination of fluorescence microscopy and impedance spectroscopy, we show that the ultrathin C60 predominately acts to extract electrons from the perovskite film while concomitantly suppressing the photocurrent hysteresis by reducing space charge accumulation at the interface. This work ultimately helps to clarify the dominant role of fullerenes in perovskite solar cells while simplifying perovskite solar cell design to reduce manufacturing costs.
ABSTRACT
Organic molecular salts are an emerging and highly tunable class of materials for organic and transparent photovoltaics. In this work, we demonstrate novel phenyl borate and carborane-based anions paired with a near-infrared (NIR)-selective heptamethine cation. We further explore the effects of anion structures and functional groups on both device performance and physical properties. Changing the functional groups on the anion significantly alters the open circuit voltage and yields a clear dependence on electron withdrawing groups. Anion exchange is also shown to selectively alter the solubility and film surface energy of the resulting molecular salt, enabling the potential fabrication of solution-deposited cascade or multi-junction devices from orthogonal solvents. This study further expands the catalog and properties of organic salts for inexpensive, and stable NIR-selective molecular salt photovoltaics.
ABSTRACT
On page 320, R. R. Lunt and co-workers demonstrate electroluminescence from earth-abundant phosphorescent metal halide nanoclusters. These inorganic emitters, which exhibit rich photophysics combined with a high phosphorescence quantum yield, are employed in red and near-infrared light-emitting diodes, providing a new platform of phosphorescent emitters for low-cost and high-performance light-emission applications.
Subject(s)
Electrical Equipment and Supplies , Luminescence , NanostructuresABSTRACT
Devices utilizing an entirely new class of earth abundant, inexpensive phosphorescent emitters based on metal-halide nanoclusters are reported. Light-emitting diodes with tunable performance are demonstrated by varying cation substitution to these nanoclusters. Theoretical calculations provide insight about the nature of the phosphorescent emitting states, which involves a strong pseudo-Jahn-Teller distortion.
