A generic interface to reduce the efficiency-stability-cost gap of perovskite solar cells

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Abstract

A major bottleneck delaying the further commercialization of thin-film solar cells based on hybrid organohalide lead perovskites is the interface losses in state-of-the-art devices. We present a generic interface architecture that combines solution-processed, reliable, and cost-efficient hole-transporting materials, without compromising efficiency, stability or scalability of perovskite solar cells. Tantalum doped tungsten oxide (Ta-WOx)/conjugated polymer multilayers offer a surprisingly small interface barrier and form quasi-ohmic contacts universally with various scalable conjugated polymers. Using a simple regular planar architecture device, Ta-WOx doped interface-based perovskite solar cells achieve maximum efficiencies of 21.2% and combined with over 1000 hours of light stability based on a self-assembled monolayer. By eliminating additional ionic dopants, these findings open up the whole class of organics as scalable hole-transporting materials for perovskite solar cells.

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Anomalous Hysteresis in Perovskite Solar Cells.

Henry J Snaith, Antonio Abate, James M Ball … (2014)

Perovskite solar cells have rapidly risen to the forefront of emerging photovoltaic technologies, exhibiting rapidly rising efficiencies. This is likely to continue to rise, but in the development of these solar cells there are unusual characteristics that have arisen, specifically an anomalous hysteresis in the current-voltage curves. We identify this phenomenon and show some examples of factors that make the hysteresis more or less extreme. We also demonstrate stabilized power output under working conditions and suggest that this is a useful parameter to present, alongside the current-voltage scan derived power conversion efficiency. We hypothesize three possible origins of the effect and discuss its implications on device efficiency and future research directions. Understanding and resolving the hysteresis is essential for further progress and is likely to lead to a further step improvement in performance.

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A vacuum flash-assisted solution process for high-efficiency large-area perovskite solar cells.

Xiong Li, Dongqin Bi, Chenyi Yi … (2016)

Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) currently attract enormous research interest because of their high solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency (PCE) and low fabrication costs, but their practical development is hampered by difficulties in achieving high performance with large-size devices. We devised a simple vacuum flash-assisted solution processing method to obtain shiny, smooth, crystalline perovskite films of high electronic quality over large areas. This enabled us to fabricate solar cells with an aperture area exceeding 1 square centimeter, a maximum efficiency of 20.5%, and a certified PCE of 19.6%. By contrast, the best certified PCE to date is 15.6% for PSCs of similar size. We demonstrate that the reproducibility of the method is excellent and that the cells show virtually no hysteresis. Our approach enables the realization of highly efficient large-area PSCs for practical deployment.

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Not All That Glitters Is Gold: Metal-Migration-Induced Degradation in Perovskite Solar Cells

Konrad Domanski, Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, Nicolas Mine … (2016)

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have now achieved efficiencies in excess of 22%, but very little is known about their long-term stability under thermal stress. So far, stability reports have hinted at the importance of substituting the organic components, but little attention has been given to the metal contact. We investigated the stability of state-of-the-art PSCs with efficiencies exceeding 20%. Remarkably, we found that exposing PSCs to a temperature of 70 °C is enough to induce gold migration through the hole-transporting layer (HTL), spiro-MeOTAD, and into the perovskite material, which in turn severely affects the device performance metrics under working conditions. Importantly, we found that the main cause of irreversible degradation is not due to decomposition of the organic and hybrid perovskite layers. By introducing a Cr metal interlayer between the HTL and gold electrode, high-temperature-induced irreversible long-term losses are avoided. This key finding is essential in the quest for achieving high efficiency, long-term stable PSCs which, in order to be commercially viable, need to withstand hard thermal stress tests.