Sharif Digital Repository

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are one of the most promising emerging energy-conversion technologies because of their high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and potentially low fabrication cost. To improve PCE, it is necessary to develop PSCs with good interfacial engineering to reduce the trap states and carrier transport barriers present at the various interfaces of the PSCs' architecture. This work reports a facile method to improve the interface between the perovskite absorber layer and the hole transport layer (HTL) by adding a small amount of acetonitrile (ACN) in the Spiro-OMeTAD precursor solution. This small amount of ACN dissolves the surface of the perovskite layer, allowing the... 

Herein, a new dopant-free organic material, PV2000, as a stable hole transporting layer (HTL) for the fabrication of stable and efficient perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is introduced. For this purpose, planar PSCs using a triple-A cation perovskite composition are fabricated and the commonly used 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9′-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) HTL is replaced by dopant-free PV2000 polymer. The characterization results disclose that the PV2000 has a great thermal stability, good hole mobility, and suitable band alignment that matches well with the valence band of triple-A cation perovskite. After proper optimization of PV2000 film thickness, a planar PSC... 

Inorganic hole-transport materials (HTMs) have been frequently applied in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and are a promising solution to improve the poor stability of PSCs. In this study, we investigate solution-processed copper indium gallium disulfide (CIGS) nanocrystals (NCs) as a dopant-free inorganic HTM in n-i-p type PSCs. Moreover, Cs0.05(MA0.17-FA0.83)0.95Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3 mixed-halide perovskite with proper crystalline quality and long-time stability was utilized as the light-absorbing layer under ambient conditions. To optimize the cell performance and better charge extraction from the perovskite layer, the Ga concentration in the Cu(In1-XGaX)S2 composition was changed, and the X... 

The improvement of the quality of the hole transporting layer (HTL) plays a key role in the fabrication of highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, we used rubrene as a surface treatment agent on top of a spiro HTL. We found that rubrene can cover the pinholes of the spiro layer and provide an excellent contact layer for planar PSCs. Based on this modification, mobile gold ions from the metal electrode are prevented from diffusing through the HTL hindering the degradation of PSCs. The optimized device shows a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.87% and a 79% fill factor (FF), which are higher than the 17.98% PCE and 72% FF of the reference device. In... 

CH3 NH3 PbI3 (MAPbI3) thin film solar cells, which are reported at laboratory efficiency scale of nearly 22%, are the subject of much attention by energy researchers due to their low cost buildup, acceptable efficiency, high absorption coefficient and diffusion length. The main purpose of this research is to simulate the structure of thin film perovskite solar cells through numerical simulation of SCAPS based on the empirical data for different hole transport layers. After simulating the initial structure of FTO/TiO2/CH3NH3PbI3/Spiro-OMeTAD solar cell, the hole transport layer Spiro-OMeTAD thickness was optimized on a small scale using modeling. The researchers also sought to reduce the... 

The effect of substitutional Li doping into NiOx hole transporting layer (HTL) for use in inverted perovskite solar cells was systematically studied. Li doped NiOx thin films with preferential crystal growth along the (111) plane were deposited using a simple solution-based process. Mott-Schottky analysis showed that hole carrier concentration (NA) is doubled by Li doping. Utilizing 4 % Li in NiOx improved the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar devices from 9.0 % to 12.6 %. Photoluminescence quenching investigations demonstrate better hole capturing properties of Li:NiOx compared to that of NiOx, leading to higher current densities by Li doping. The electrical conductivity of NiOx is... 

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a good candidate for cost-effective perovskite solar cells (PSCs) due to its direct bandgap with a value of 1.4–1.5 eV. In this study, we investigate CZTS ink as an inorganic hole-transport-layer (HTL) in CsMAFAPbIBr mixed halide PSCs. We study the cell efficiency and hole extraction from the perovskite layer for different thicknesses of HTL. The optimized device exhibits better hole selectivity, and the best efficiency of the device (12.84%) is achieved for the CZTS layer with a thickness of 159 nm. The prepared samples were also tested by open-circuit voltage decay analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopies. Results show that the optimized device effectively... 

Perovskite solar cells have been constructed under the standard procedure by employing soluble tetratriphenylamine-substituted Zn phthalocyanine as hole transporting material. Solution processed device construction was carried out under ambient conditions of 50–60% ambient humidity. Triphenylamine substitution played the double role of imparting solubility to the core metal phthalocyanine as well as to introduce electron-rich ligands, which could enhance the role of Zn phthalocyanine as hole transporter. Indeed, the obtained material was functional. The present data highlight tetratriphenylamine-substituted Zn phthalocyanine as hole transporting material but also highlight the importance of... 

We have investigated the influence of perovskite morphology on slow and fast charge transport in the perovskite solar cells. Solar cells with different perovskite cuboid sizes (50-300 nm) have been fabricated using various methylammonium iodide concentrations. Both the low-frequency capacitance and hysteresis are maximum for the cell with the largest perovskite grains (300 nm). The low-frequency capacitance is about three orders of magnitude greater than the intermediate frequency capacitance, indicating the great role of ions on the slow responses and hysteresis. The measurement of open-circuit voltage decay indicates that for the large grains of 300 nm up to 70% of Voc remains across the... 

In this research, inorganic copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) hole transport layer (HTL) was applied in conventional structure of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Besides, mixed halides perovskite (Cs0.05(MA0.17FA0.83)0.95Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3) was utilized as the light absorbing layer and deposited on FTO/compact TiO2 substrates through a one-step coating method in ambient condition. The mentioned perovskite is more stable against high temperature, high irradiation and humidity compared to commonly applied MAPbI3 perovskite. Nevertheless, the CuSCN could not be well dissolved in usual dipropyl sulfide solution and should be deposited for several times to achieve suitable thickness, this could reduce the... 

Interfacial engineering between the perovskite and hole transport layers has emerged as an effective way to improve perovskite solar cell (PSC) performance. A variety of organic halide salts are developed to passivate the traps and enhance the charge carrier transport. Here, the use of guanidinium iodide (GuaI) for interfacial modification of mixed-cation (Cs)x(FA)1−xPbI3 perovskite films, which results in the formation of a low-dimensional δ-FAPbI3-like phase on the 3D perovskite surface, is reported. The presence of this thin layer facilitates charge transfer at interfaces and reduces charge carrier recombination pathways as evidenced by enhanced carrier lifetimes and favorable interfacial... 

In the last decade, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solution-processed perovskite solar cells (PSCs) in the lab-scale has reached an incredible level of 25.5%. Generally, PSCs are composed of a stack consisting of a perovskite thin-film sandwiched between an electron transporting layer (ETL) and a hole transporting layer (HTL). Although the quality of the ETL and HTL interfaces with the perovskite thin-film is important, the quality of the perovskite thin-film is also critical to achieving high-performance PSCs. Low-temperature deposition of organic-inorganic perovskite thin-films by simple solution processes is one of the significant advantages of PSCs compared to other... 

Organometal halide perovskite solar cells have been constructed using soluble tetra-n-butyl-copper phthalocyanine as hole transporting material. Devices were constructed and characterized under ambient conditions of 50–60% ambient humidity. Soluble copper phthalocyanine gave a modest PCE of 7.3% but when a buffer layer of either Al2O3 or graphene oxide was introduced between the perovskite and the hole transporting layer the cell efficiency extensively increased and reached 14.4% in the presence of graphene oxide. Corresponding data obtained by employing the standard spiro-OMeTAD as hole transporter gave equivalent performance. Combination then of tetra-n-butyl-copper phthalocyanine with... 

Carbon based perovskite solar cells have been constructed by screen-printing three subsequent mesoporous layers of Titania, Zirconia and Carbon without a hole transporting layer and by infiltration of perovskite liquid precursor through the layers. Cell efficiency was optimized by varying the thickness of the three layers and the composition of the inks employed for screen printing. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was employed as a guide in the search for layer thickness optimization. All cell construction and testing was carried out under ambient conditions of 20–30% humidity. The cells were not encapsulated. The best cell gave an efficiency of 10.7%. All cells demonstrated a... 

PbS quantum dots (QDs) have been extensively studied for photovoltaic applications, thanks to their facile and low-cost fabrication processing and interesting physical properties such as size dependent and tunable band gap. However, the performance of PbS QD-based solar cells is highly sensitive to the humidity level in the ambient air, which is a serious obstacle toward its practical applications. Although it has been previously revealed that oxygen doping of the hole transporting layer can mitigate the cause of this issue, the suggested methods to recover the device performance are time-consuming and relatively costly. Here, we report a low-power oxygen plasma treatment as a rapid and... 

Vacuum deposition of transporting layers, especially the hole-transporting layer (HTL), is still a big challenge for the fabrication of large-area perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, efficient and large-area PSCs are fabricated by thermal evaporation of all the layers. Poly(bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine) (PTAA) is used as the HTL, and a compact layer of PTAA with low thickness (2–10 nm) is successfully deposited using thermal evaporation. The optical and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) measurements prove that the evaporated PTAA has a great match with the single A-cation methylammonium triiodide perovskite film in terms of quenching effect and band... 

The fabrication of efficient perovskite solar cells (PSCs) using all-vacuum processing is still challenging due to the limitations in the vacuum deposition of the hole transporting layer (HTL). Herein, inverted PSCs using copper (II) phthalocyanine (CuPC) as an ideal alternative HTL for vacuum processing are fabricated. After proper optimization, a PSC with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.3% is achieved, which is much better than the PCEs (16.8%) of devices with solution-based CuPC. As it takes a long time to dissolve CuPC in the solution-based device, the evaporation approach has better advantage in terms of fast processing. In addition, the device with the evaporated CuPC HTL...