Polymer hole-transport material improving thermal stability of inorganic perovskite solar cells

Abstract

Cesium-based inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are paid more attention because of their potential thermal stability. However, prevalent salt-doped 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis(N,N-dipmethoxyphenylamine)9,9′-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD) as hole-transport materials (HTMs) for a high-efficiency inorganic device has an unfortunate defective thermal stability. In this study, we apply poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) as the HTM and design all-inorganic PSCs with an indium tin oxide (ITO)/SnO₂/LiF/CsPbI_3−xBr_x/P3HT/Au structure. As a result, the CsPbI_3−xBr_x PSCs achieve an excellent performance of 15.84%. The P3HT HTM-based device exhibits good photo-stability, maintaining ~80% of their initial power conversion efficiency over 280 h under one Sun irradiation. In addition, they also show better thermal stability compared with the traditional HTM Spiro-OMeTAD.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

inorganic perovskite solar cell (PSC) / hole-transport material (HTM) / stability

References

[1] Kojima A, Teshima K, Shirai Y, Miyasaka T. Organometal halide perovskites as visible-light sensitizers for photovoltaic cells. Journal of Applied Chemical Science, 2009, 131(17): 6050–6051

[2] National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Best Cell Efficiencies, available at the website of nrel.gov/pv/cell-efficiency (accessed: January 2019)

[3] Im J H, Jang I H, Pellet N, Grätzel M, Park N G. Growth of CH₃NH₃PbI₃ cuboids with controlled size for high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. Nature Nanotechnology, 2014, 9(11): 927–932

[4] Stoumpos C C, Malliakas C D, Kanatzidis M G. Semiconducting tin and lead iodide perovskites with organic cations: phase transitions, high mobilities, and near-infrared photoluminescent properties. Inorganic Chemistry, 2013, 52(15): 9019–9038

[5] Dong Q, Fang Y, Shao Y, Mulligan P, Qiu J, Cao L, Huang J. Electron-hole diffusion lengths>175 mm in solution-grown CH₃NH₃PbI₃ single crystals. Science, 2015, 347(6225): 967–970

[6] D’Innocenzo V, Grancini G, Alcocer M J, Kandada A R, Stranks S D, Lee M M, Lanzani G, Snaith H J, Petrozza A. Excitons versus free charges in organo-lead tri-halide perovskites. Nature Communications, 2014, 5(4): 3586

[7] Zhu H, Miyata K, Fu Y, Wang J, Joshi P P, Niesner D, Williams K W, Jin S, Zhu X Y. Screening in crystalline liquids protects energetic carriers in hybrid perovskites. Science, 2016, 353(6306): 1409–1413

[8] Svane K L, Forse A C, Grey C P, Kieslich G, Cheetham A K, Walsh A, Butler K T. How strong is the hydrogen bond in hybrid perovskites? Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2017, 8(24): 6154–6159

[9] Chen H, Xiang S, Li W, Liu H, Zhu L, Yang S. Inorganic perovskite solar cells: a rapidly growing field. Solar RRL, 2018, 2(2): 1700188

[10] Sim K M, Swarnkar A, Nag A, Chung D S. Phase stabilized α-CsPbI₃ perovskite nanocrystals for photodiode applications. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 2018, 12(1): 1700209

[11] Mei A, Li X, Liu L, Ku Z, Liu T, Rong Y, Xu M, Hu M, Chen J, Yang Y, Grätzel M, Han H. A hole-conductor-free, fully printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cell with high stability. Science, 2014, 345(6194): 295–298

[12] Wang P, Zhang X, Zhou Y, Jiang Q, Ye Q, Chu Z, Li X, Yang X, Yin Z, You J. Solvent-controlled growth of inorganic perovskite films in dry environment for efficient and stable solar cells. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 2225

[13] Wang Y, Dar M I, Ono L K, Zhang T, Kan M, Li Y, Zhang L, Wang X, Yang Y, Gao X, Qi Y, Grätzel M, Zhao Y. Thermodynamically stabilized β-CsPbI₃–based perovskite solar cells with efficiencies>18%. Science, 2019, 365(6453): 591–595

[14] Wang K, Jin Z, Liang L, Bian H, Bai D, Wang H, Zhang J, Wang Q, Liu S. All-inorganic cesium lead iodide perovskite solar cells with stabilized efficiency beyond 15. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 4544

[15] Beal R E, Slotcavage D J, Leijtens T, Bowring A R, Belisle R A, Nguyen W H, Burkhard G F, Hoke E T, McGehee M D. Cesium lead halide perovskites with improved stability for tandem solar cells. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2016, 7(5): 746–751

[16] Wang Y, Zhang T, Kan M, Zhao Y. Bifunctional stabilization of all-inorganic α-CsPbI₃ perovskite for 17% efficiency photovoltaics. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2018, 140(39): 12345–12348

[17] Yang F, Hirotani D, Kapil G, Kamarudin M A, Ng C H, Zhang Y, Shen Q, Hayase S. All-inorganic CsPb_1−xGe_xI₂Br perovskite with enhanced phase stability and photovoltaic performance. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2018, 130(39): 12927–12931

[18] Sanchez S, Christoph N, Grobety B, Phung N, Steiner U, Saliba M, Abate A. Efficient and stable inorganic perovskite solar cells manufactured by pulsed flash infrared annealing. Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8(30): 1802060

[19] Zeng Q, Zhang X, Feng X, Lu S, Chen Z, Yong X, Redfern S A T, Wei H, Wang H, Shen H, Zhang W, Zheng W, Zhang H, Tse J S, Yang B. Polymer-passivated inorganic cesium lead mixed-halide perovskites for stable and efficient solar cells with high open-circuit voltage over 1.3 V. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(9): 1705393

[20] Bian H, Bai D, Jin Z, Wang K, Liang L, Wang H, Zhang J, Wang Q, Liu S F. Graded bandgap CsPbI_2+xBr_1-x, perovskite solar cells with a stabilized efficiency of 14.4%. Joule, 2018, 2(8): 1500–1510

[21] Swarnkar A, Marshall A R, Sanehira E M, Chernomordik B D, Moore D T, Christians J A, Chakrabarti T, Luther J M. Quantum dot-induced phase stabilization of α-CsPbI₃ perovskite for high-efficiency photovoltaics. Science, 2016, 354(6308): 92–95

[22] Liu J, Wu Y, Qin C, Yang X, Yasuda T, Islam A, Zhang K, Peng W, Chen W, Han L. A dopant-free hole-transporting material for efficient and stable perovskite solar cells. Energy & Environmental Science, 2014, 7(9): 2963–2967

[23] Franckevičius M, Mishra A, Kreuzer F, Luo J, Zakeeruddin S M, Gratzel M. A dopant-free spirobi[cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4-b′]dithiophene] based hole-transport material for efficient perovskite solar cells. Materials Horizons, 2015, 2(6): 613–618

[24] Liu Y, Chen Q, Duan H S, Zhou H, Yang Y, Chen H, Luo S, Song T B, Dou L, Hong Z, Yang Y. A dopant-free organic hole transport material for efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Materials for Energy and Sustainability, 2015, 3(22): 11940–11947

[25] Jung E H, Jeon N J, Park E Y, Moon C S, Shin T J, Yang T Y, Noh J H, Seo J. Efficient, stable and scalable perovskite solar cells using poly(3-hexylthiophene). Nature, 2019, 567(7749): 511–515

[26] Ye Q, Zhao Y, Mu S, Ma F, Gao F, Chu Z, Yin Z, Gao P, Zhang X, You J. Cesium lead inorganic solar cell with efficiency beyond 18% via reduced charge recombination. Advanced Materials, 2019, 31(49): e1905143

[27] Shao Y, Xiao Z, Bi C, Yuan Y, Huang J. Origin and elimination of photocurrent hysteresis by fullerene passivation in CH₃NH₃PbI₃ planar heterojunction solar cells. Nature Communications, 2014, 5(1): 5784

[28] Zeng Q, Zhang X, Feng X, Lu S, Chen Z, Yong X, Redfern S A T, Wei H, Wang H, Shen H, Zhang W, Zheng W, Zhang H, Tse J S, Yang B. Polymer-passivated inorganic cesium lead mixed-halide perovskites for stable and efficient solar cells with high open-circuit voltage over 1.3 V. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(9): 1705393

[29] Jiang Q, Zhao Y, Zhang X, Yang X, Chen Y, Chu Z, Ye Q, Li X, Yin Z, You J. Surface passivation of perovskite film for efficient solar cells. Nature Photonics, 2019, 13(7): 460–466

[30] Leijtens T, Ding I K, Giovenzana T, Bloking J T, McGehee M D, Sellinger A. Hole transport materials with low glass transition temperatures and high solubility for application in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. ACS Nano, 2012, 6(2): 1455–1462

[31] Abate A, Leijtens T, Pathak S, Teuscher J, Avolio R, Errico M E, Kirkpatrik J, Ball J M, Docampo P, McPherson I, Snaith H J. Lithium salts as “redox active” p-type dopants for organic semiconductors and their impact in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2013, 15(7): 2572–2579

[32] Tiep N H, Ku Z L, Fan H J. Recent advances in improving the stability of perovskite solar cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 2016, 6(3): 1501420

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Nos. Z181100004718005 and Z181100005118002).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2020 Higher Education Press