scholarly journals Alkali Metal Cation Incorporated Ag3BiI6 Absorbers for Efficient and Stable Rudorffite Solar Cells

Author(s):  
Ming-Chung Wu ◽  
Ruei-Yu Kuo ◽  
Yin-Hsuan Chang ◽  
Shih-Hsuan Chen ◽  
Ching-Mei Ho​ ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Toxic lead and poor stability are the main obstacles of perovskite solar cells. Lead-free silver bismuth iodide (SBI) was first attempted as solar cells photovoltaic materials in 2016. However, the short-circuit current of the SBI rudorffite materials is commonly below 10 mA/cm2, limiting the overall photovoltaic performance. Here, we present a chemical composition engineering to enhance the photovoltaic performance. Methods In this study, we incorporated a series of alkali metal cations (Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, and Cs+) into Ag3BiI6 absorbers to investigate the effects on the photovoltaic performance of rudorffite solar cells. Results Cs+ doping improved VOC and Na+ doping showed an obvious enhancement in JSC. Therefore, we co-doped Na+ and Cs+ into SBI (Na/Cs-SBI) as the absorber and investigated the crystal structure, surface morphology, and optical properties. The photo-assisted Kelvin probe force microscopy (photo-KPFM) was used to measure surface potential and verified that Na/Cs doping could reduce the electron trapping at the grain boundary and facilitate electron transportation. Conclusion Na/Cs-SBI reduced the electron-holes pairs recombination and promoted the carrier transport of rudorffite solar cells. Finally, the Na/Cs-SBI rudorffite solar cell exhibited a PCE of 2.50%, a 46.0% increase to the SBI device (PCE = 1.71%), and was stable in ambient conditions for over 6 months.

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3295
Author(s):  
Andrzej Sławek ◽  
Zbigniew Starowicz ◽  
Marek Lipiński

In recent years, lead halide perovskites have attracted considerable attention from the scientific community due to their exceptional properties and fast-growing enhancement for solar energy harvesting efficiency. One of the fundamental aspects of the architecture of perovskite-based solar cells (PSCs) is the electron transport layer (ETL), which also acts as a barrier for holes. In this work, the influence of compact TiO2 ETL on the performance of planar heterojunction solar cells based on CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite was investigated. ETLs were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates from a titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) precursor solution using the spin-coating method with changing precursor concentration and centrifugation speed. It was found that the thickness and continuity of ETLs, investigated between 0 and 124 nm, strongly affect the photovoltaic performance of PSCs, in particular short-circuit current density (JSC). Optical and topographic properties of the compact TiO2 layers were investigated as well.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. J. Ogundana ◽  
S. Y. Foo

Recently, perovskite solar cells have attracted tremendous attention due to their excellent power conversion efficiency, low cost, simple fabrications, and high photovoltaic performance. Furthermore, the perovskite solar cells are lightweight and possess thin film and semitransparency. However, the nonuniformity in perovskite layer constitutes a major setback to the operation mechanism, performance, reproducibility, and degradation of perovskite solar cells. Therefore, one of the main challenges in planar perovskite devices is the fabrication of high quality films with controlled morphology and least amount of pin-holes for high performance thin film perovskite devices. The poor reproducibility in perovskite solar cells hinders the accurate fabrication of practical devices for use in real world applications, and this is primarily as a result of the inability to control the morphology of perovskites, leading to large variability in the characteristics of perovskite solar cells. Hence, the focus of research in perovskites has been mostly geared towards improving the morphology and crystallization of perovskite absorber by selecting the optimal annealing condition considering the effect of humidity. Here we report a controlled ambient condition that is necessary to grow uniform perovskite crystals. A best PCE of 7.5% was achieved along with a short-circuit current density of 15.2 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 0.81 V, and a fill factor of 0.612 from the perovskite solar cell prepared under 60% relative humidity.


Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (6466) ◽  
pp. 749-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanul Min ◽  
Maengsuk Kim ◽  
Seung-Un Lee ◽  
Hyeonwoo Kim ◽  
Gwisu Kim ◽  
...  

In general, mixed cations and anions containing formamidinium (FA), methylammonium (MA), caesium, iodine, and bromine ions are used to stabilize the black α-phase of the FA-based lead triiodide (FAPbI3) in perovskite solar cells. However, additives such as MA, caesium, and bromine widen its bandgap and reduce the thermal stability. We stabilized the α-FAPbI3 phase by doping with methylenediammonium dichloride (MDACl2) and achieved a certified short-circuit current density of between 26.1 and 26.7 milliamperes per square centimeter. With certified power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 23.7%, more than 90% of the initial efficiency was maintained after 600 hours of operation with maximum power point tracking under full sunlight illumination in ambient conditions including ultraviolet light. Unencapsulated devices retained more than 90% of their initial PCE even after annealing for 20 hours at 150°C in air and exhibited superior thermal and humidity stability over a control device in which FAPbI3 was stabilized by MAPbBr3.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaxian Pei ◽  
Xiaoping Zou ◽  
Xiaolei Qi ◽  
Gongqing Teng ◽  
Qi Li ◽  
...  

For the perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the performance of the PSCs has become the focus of the research by improving the crystallization and morphology of the perovskite absorption layer. In this thesis, based on the structure of mesoporous perovskite solar cells (MPSCs), we designed the experiments to improve the photovoltaic performance of the PSCs by improved processing technique, which mainly includes the following two aspects. Before spin-coating PbI2solution, we control the substrate temperature to modify the crystal quality and morphology of perovskite films. On the other hand, before annealing, we keep PbI2films for the different drying time at room temperature to optimize films morphology. In our trials, it was found that the substrate temperature is more important in determining the photovoltaic performance than drying time. These results indicate that the crystallization and morphology of perovskite films affect the absorption intensity and obviously influence the short circuit current density of MPSCs. Utilizing films prepared by mentioning two methods, MPSCs with maximum power conversion efficiency of over 4% were fabricated for the active area of 0.5 × 0.5 cm2.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1802-1808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Atamanuk ◽  
Justin Luria ◽  
Bryan D Huey

The nanoscale optoelectronic properties of materials can be especially important for polycrystalline photovoltaics including many sensor and solar cell designs. For thin film solar cells such as CdTe, the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current are especially critical performance indicators, often varying between and even within individual grains. A new method for directly mapping the open-circuit voltage leverages photo-conducting AFM, along with an additional proportional-integral-derivative feedback loop configured to maintain open-circuit conditions while scanning. Alternating with short-circuit current mapping efficiently provides complementary insight into the highly microstructurally sensitive local and ensemble photovoltaic performance. Furthermore, direct open-circuit voltage mapping is compatible with tomographic AFM, which additionally leverages gradual nanoscale milling by the AFM probe essentially for serial sectioning. The two-dimensional and three-dimensional results for CdTe solar cells during in situ illumination reveal local to mesoscale contributions to PV performance based on the order of magnitude variations in photovoltaic properties with distinct grains, at grain boundaries, and for sub-granular planar defects.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao Wang ◽  
Xiangyu Zhu ◽  
Shuhan Li ◽  
Mengwei Chen ◽  
Nan Liu ◽  
...  

Au@Pt@Au core-shell nanoparticles, synthesized through chemical reduction, are utilized to improve the photoelectric performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) in which carbon films are used as the counter electrode, and the hole-transporting layer is not used. After a series of experiments, these Au@Pt@Au core-shell nanoparticles are optimized and demonstrate outstanding optical and electrical properties due to their local surface plasmon resonance and scattering effects. PSC devices containing 1 wt.% Au@Pt@Au core-shell nanoparticles have the highest efficiency; this is attributable to their significant light trapping and utilization capabilities, which are the result of the distinctive structure of the nanoparticles. The power conversion efficiency of PSCs, with an optimal content of plasmonic nanoparticles (1 wt.%), increased 8.1%, compared to normal PSCs, which was from 12.4% to 13.4%; their short-circuit current density also increased by 5.4%, from 20.5 mA·cm−2 to 21.6 mA·cm−2. The open-circuit voltages remaining are essentially unchanged. When the number of Au@Pt@Au core-shell nanoparticles in the mesoporous TiO2 layer increases, the photovoltaic parameters of the former shows a downward trend due to the recombination of electrons and holes, as well as the decrease in electron transporting pathways.


Coatings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 354
Author(s):  
Shaoxi Wang ◽  
He Guan ◽  
Yue Yin ◽  
Chunfu Zhang

With the continuous development of solar cells, the perovskite solar cells (PSCs), whose hole transport layer plays a vital part in collection of photogenerated carriers, have been studied by many researchers. Interface transport layers are important for efficiency and stability enhancement. In this paper, we demonstrated that lithium (Li) and cobalt (Co) codoped in the novel inorganic hole transport layer named NiOx, which were deposited onto ITO substrates via solution methods at room temperature, can greatly enhance performance based on inverted structures of planar heterojunction PSCs. Compared to the pristine NiOx films, doping a certain amount of Li and Co can increase optical transparency, work function, electrical conductivity and hole mobility of NiOx film. Furthermore, experimental results certified that coating CH3NH3PbIxCl3−x perovskite films on Li and Co- NiOx electrode interlayer film can improve chemical stability and absorbing ability of sunlight than the pristine NiOx. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs has a great improvement from 14.1% to 18.7% when codoped with 10% Li and 5% Co in NiOx. Moreover, the short-circuit current density (Jsc) was increased from 20.09 mA/cm2 to 21.7 mA/cm2 and the fill factor (FF) was enhanced from 0.70 to 0.75 for the PSCs. The experiment results demonstrated that the Li and Co codoped NiOx can be a effective dopant to improve the performance of the PSCs.


Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mao Jiang ◽  
Qiaoli Niu ◽  
Xiao Tang ◽  
Heyi Zhang ◽  
Haowen Xu ◽  
...  

The commonly used electron transport material (6,6)-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) for perovskite solar cells (PSC) with inverted planar structures suffers from properties such as poor film-forming. In this manuscript, we demonstrate a simple method to improve the film-forming properties of PCBM by doping PCBM with poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT) as the electron transport layer (ETL), which effectively enhances the performance of CH3NH3PbI3 based solar cells. With 5 wt % F8BT in PCBM, the short circuit current (JSC) and fill factor (FF) of PSC both significantly increased from 17.21 ± 0.15 mA·cm−2 and 71.1 ± 0.07% to 19.28 ± 0.22 mA·cm−2 and 74.7 ± 0.21%, respectively, which led to a power conversion efficiency (PCE) improvement from 12.6 ± 0.24% to 15 ± 0.26%. The morphology investigation suggested that doping with F8BT facilitated the formation of a smooth and uniform ETL, which was favorable for the separation of electron-hole pairs, and therefore, an improved performance of PSC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 821 ◽  
pp. 407-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Orabi Moustafa ◽  
Tariq Alzoubi

The performance of the InGaN single-junction thin film solar cells has been analyzed numerically employing the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS-1D). The electrical properties and the photovoltaic performance of the InGaN solar cells were studied by changing the doping concentrations and the bandgap energy along with each layer, i.e. n-and p-InGaN layers. The results reveal an optimum efficiency of the InGaN solar cell of ~ 15.32 % at a band gap value of 1.32 eV. It has been observed that lowering the doping concentration NA leads to an improvement of the short circuit current density (Jsc) (34 mA/cm2 at NA of 1016 cm−3). This might be attributed to the increase of the carrier mobility and hence an enhancement in the minority carrier diffusion length leading to a better collection efficiency. Additionally, the results show that increasing the front layer thickness of the InGaN leads to an increase in the Jsc and to the conversion efficiency (η). This has been referred to the increase in the photogenerated current, as well as to the less surface recombination rate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaying Wu ◽  
Joel Luke ◽  
Harrison Ka Hin Lee ◽  
Pabitra Shakya Tuladhar ◽  
Hyojung Cha ◽  
...  

AbstractWe analyse organic solar cells with four different photoactive blends exhibiting differing dependencies of short-circuit current upon photoactive layer thickness. These blends and devices are analysed by transient optoelectronic techniques of carrier kinetics and densities, air photoemission spectroscopy of material energetics, Kelvin probe measurements of work function, Mott-Schottky analyses of apparent doping density and by device modelling. We conclude that, for the device series studied, the photocurrent loss with thick active layers is primarily associated with the accumulation of photo-generated charge carriers in intra-bandgap tail states. This charge accumulation screens the device internal electrical field, preventing efficient charge collection. Purification of one studied donor polymer is observed to reduce tail state distribution and density and increase the maximal photoactive thickness for efficient operation. Our work suggests that selecting organic photoactive layers with a narrow distribution of tail states is a key requirement for the fabrication of efficient, high photocurrent, thick organic solar cells.


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