One of the most effective methods to achieve high‐performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is to employ additives as crystallization agents or to passivate defects. Tri‐iodide ion has been known as ...an efficient additive to improve the crystallinity, grain size, and morphology of perovskite films. However, the generation and control of this tri‐iodide ion are challenging. Herein, an efficient method to produce tri‐iodide ion in a precursor solution using a photoassisted process for application in PSCs is developed. Results suggest that the tri‐iodide ion can be synthesized rapidly when formamidinium iodide (FAI) dissolved isopropyl alcohol (IPA) solution is exposed to LED light. Specifically, the photoassisted FAI–IPA solution facilitates the formation of fine perovskite films with high crystallinity, large grain size, and low trap density, thereby improving the device performance up to 22%. This study demonstrates that the photoassisted process in FAI dissolved IPA solution can be an alternative strategy to fabricate highly efficient PSCs with significantly reduced processing times.
This work proposes an efficient method to produce tri‐iodide ions, which has been known as an efficient additive that improves the crystallinity, grain size, and morphology of perovskite films in a precursor solution using a photoassited process within short time, resulting in a device performance up to 22%.
•Electron injection and transport properties of mesoporous layer containing TiO2 nanoparticles are investigated.•The photovoltaic properties are poor with small TiO2 particles and thick mesoporous ...layers.•This poor performance is due to the increase of the area of the TiO2/TiO2 interface.•The TiO2/TiO2 interfacial resistance largely influences the photovoltaic parameters.
Mesoporous TiO2 (mp-TiO2) layers are commonly used as electron transport layers in perovskite solar cells, which help to extract electrons from the perovskite light-absorbing layer and transport them to the electrodes. We investigated the effects of the layer thickness of mp-TiO2 and particle size of TiO2 on photovoltaic properties, in terms of the surface area of the mp-layer and the interfacial areas of the TiO2 nanoparticles in the mp-layer. Various mp-TiO2 layers with thicknesses of 150, 250, and 400 nm and particle sizes of 25 nm and 41 nm were prepared to compare the photovoltaic properties of such layer-containing perovskite solar cells. Time-resolved photoluminescence decay and impedance studies showed that interfacial resistance as well as perovskite-to-TiO2 charge injection are important factors affecting photovoltaic performance. The deterioration of the photovoltaic parameters with increasing TiO2/TiO2 interfacial area also confirms that the interfacial series resistance that arises from these connections should be reduced to enhance the performance of mesoscopic perovskite solar cells.
Maximizing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells that can exceed the Shockley-Queisser single-cell limit requires a high-performing, stable perovskite top ...cell with a wide bandgap. We developed a stable perovskite solar cell with a bandgap of ~1.7 electron volts that retained more than 80% of its initial PCE of 20.7% after 1000 hours of continuous illumination. Anion engineering of phenethylammonium-based two-dimensional (2D) additives was critical for controlling the structural and electrical properties of the 2D passivation layers based on a lead iodide framework. The high PCE of 26.7% of a monolithic two-terminal wide-bandgap perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell was made possible by the ideal combination of spectral responses of the top and bottom cells.
Perovskite microcells have a great potential to be applied to diverse types of optoelectronic devices including light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, and solar cells. Although several perovskite ...fabrication methods have been researched, perovskite microcells without a significant efficiency drop during the patterning and fabrication process could not be developed yet. We herein report the fabrication of high-efficiency perovskite microcells using swelling-induced crack propagation and the application of the microcells to colored solar windows. The key procedure is a swelling-induced lift-off process that leads to patterned perovskite films with high-quality interfaces. Thus, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.1 % could be achieved with the perovskite microcell, which is nearly same as the PCE of our unpatterned perovskite photovoltaic device (PV). The semi-transparent PV based on microcells exhibited a light utilization efficiency of 4.67 and a color rendering index of 97.5 %. The metal-insulator-metal structure deposited on the semi-transparent PV enabled to fabricate solar windows with vivid colors and high color purity.
Organometallic halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown great promise as a low-cost, high-efficiency photovoltaic technology. Structural and electro-optical properties of the perovskite ...absorber layer are most critical to device operation characteristics. Here we present a facile fabrication of high-efficiency PSCs based on compact, large-grain, pinhole-free CH3NH3PbI3-xBrx (MAPbI3-xBrx) thin films with high reproducibility. A simple methylammonium bromide (MABr) treatment via spin-coating with a proper MABr concentration converts MAPbI3 thin films with different initial film qualities (for example, grain size and pinholes) to high-quality MAPbI3-xBrx thin films following an Ostwald ripening process, which is strongly affected by MABr concentration and is ineffective when replacing MABr with methylammonium iodide. A higher MABr concentration enhances I-Br anion exchange reaction, yielding poorer device performance. This MABr-selective Ostwald ripening process improves cell efficiency but also enhances device stability and thus represents a simple, promising strategy for further improving PSC performance with higher reproducibility and reliability.
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are the most promising candidates as next‐generation solar energy conversion systems. To design a highly efficient PSC, understanding electronic properties of mesoporous ...metal oxides is essential. Herein, we explore the effect of Nb doping of TiO2 on electronic structure and photovoltaic properties of PSCs. Light Nb doping (0.5 and 1.0 at %) increased the optical band gap slightly, but heavy doping (5.0 at %) distinctively decreased it. The relative Fermi level position of the conduction band is similar for the lightly Nb‐doped TiO2 (NTO) and the undoped TiO2 whereas that of the heavy doped NTO decreased by as much as ∼0.3 eV. The lightly doped NTO‐based PSCs exhibit 10 % higher efficiency than PSCs based on undoped TiO2 (from 12.2 % to 13.4 %) and 52 % higher than the PSCs utilizing heavy doped NTO (from 8.8 % to 13.4 %), which is attributed to fast electron injection/transport and preserved electron lifetime, verified by transient photocurrent decay and impedance studies.
Nb‐doped TiO2 nanoparticles for perovskite solar cell: TiO2 nanoparticles doped with n‐type Nb5+ have a diameter of 30 nm and a pure anatase phase; they are used for fabricating perovskite solar cells. Light doping increases the photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency by 10 % due to improved electron injection/transport properties of the nanoparticle‐based electron transport layer.
Most research on perovskite solar cells has focused on improving power-conversion efficiency and stability. However, if one could refurbish perovskite solar cells, their stability might not be a ...critical issue. From the perspective of cost effectiveness, if failed, perovskite solar cells could be collected and recycled; reuse of their gold electrodes and transparent conducting glasses could reduce the price per watt of perovskite photovoltaic modules. Herein, we present a simple and effective method for removing the perovskite layer and reusing the mesoporous TiO2-coated transparent conducting glass substrate via selective dissolution. We find that the perovskite layer can be easily decomposed in polar aprotic solvents because of the reaction between polar aprotic solvents and Pb(2+) cations. After 10 cycles of recycling, a mesoporous TiO2-coated transparent conducting glass substrate-based perovskite solar cell still shows a constant power-conversion efficiency, thereby demonstrating the possibility of recycling perovskite solar cells.
Organic–inorganic halide perovskites incorporating two-dimensional (2D) structures have shown promise for enhancing the stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the bulky spacer cations ...often limit charge transport. Here, we report on a simple approach based on molecular design of the organic spacer to improve the transport properties of 2D perovskites, and we use phenethylammonium (PEA) as an example. We demonstrate that by fluorine substitution on the para position in PEA to form 4-fluorophenethylammonium (F-PEA), the average phenyl ring centroid–centroid distances in the organic layer become shorter with better aligned stacking of perovskite sheets. The impact is enhanced orbital interactions and charge transport across adjacent inorganic layers as well as increased carrier lifetime and reduced trap density. Using a simple perovskite deposition at room temperature without using any additives, we obtained a power conversion efficiency of >13% for (F-PEA)2MA4Pb5I16-based PSCs. In addition, the thermal stability of 2D PSCs based on F-PEA is significantly enhanced compared to those based on PEA.