Stabilized hole-selective layer for high-performance inverted p-i-n perovskite solar cells

By Zhen Li, Xianglang Sun, Xiaopeng Zheng, Bo Li, Danpeng Gao, Shou-Feng Zhang, Xin Wu, Shuai Li, Jianqiu Gong, J. Luther and 2 more. Science, 2023

599 citations recorded by the source corpus.

P-i-n geometry perovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer simplified fabrication, greater amenability to charge extraction layers, and low-temperature processing over n-i-p counterparts. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) can enhance the performance of p-i-n PSCs but ultrathin SAMs can be thermally unstable. We report a thermally robust hole-selective layer comprised of nickel oxide (NiOx) nanoparticle film with a surface-anchored (4-(3,11-dimethoxy-7H-dibenzo[c,g]carbazol-7-yl)butyl)phosphonic acid (MeO-4PADBC) SAM that can improve and stabilize the NiOx/perovskite interface. The energetic alignment and favorable contact and binding between NiOx/MeO-4PADBC and perovskite reduced the voltage deficit of PSCs with various perovskite compositions and led to strong interface toughening effects under thermal stress. The resulting 1.53–electron-volt devices achieved 25.6% certified power conversion efficiency and maintained >90% of their initial efficiency after continuously operating at 65 degrees Celsius for 1200 hours under 1-sun illumination. Description Editor’s summary Inverted (p-i-n geometry) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have fabrication advantages compared with conventional cells, but the self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) used to stabilize charge extraction layers have been prone to thermal degradation. Li et al. report on a phosphonic acid SAM that is anchored onto the particles in a nickel oxide film, optimizing the dipole moment for fast hole extraction and leading to a low defect density. For 1.53–electron volt p-i-n PSCs, a power conversion efficiency of 25.6% was achieved, and the cells maintained more than 90% of that efficiency after 1200 hours of operation at 65°C. —Phil Szuromi A thermally stable self-assembled monolayer improves the contact to the hole-selective nickel oxide layer in perovskite solar cells.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Polymers and Plastics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f6e00d0309c429d9f653dd372d16c9051b094b32