Abstract
The M13 bacteriophage, a nature‐inspired environmentally friendly biomaterial, is used as a perovskite crystal growth template and a grain boundary passivator in perovskite solar cells. The amino groups and carboxyl groups of amino acids on the M13 bacteriophage surface function as Lewis bases, interacting with the perovskite materials. The M13 bacteriophage‐added perovskite films show a larger grain size and reduced trap‐sites compared with the reference perovskite films. In addition, the existence of the M13 bacteriophage induces light scattering effect, which enhances the light absorption particularly in the long‐wavelength region around 825 nm. Both the passivation effect of the M13 bacteriophage coordinating to the perovskite defect sites and the light scattering effect intensify when the M13 virus‐added perovskite precursor solution is heated at 90 °C prior to the film formation. Heating the solution denatures the M13 bacteriophage by breaking their inter‐ and intra‐molecular bondings. The denatured M13 bacteriophage‐added perovskite solar cells exhibit an efficiency of 20.1% while the reference devices give an efficiency of 17.8%. The great improvement in efficiency comes from all of the three photovoltaic parameters, namely short‐circuit current, open‐circuit voltage, and fill factor, which correspond to the perovskite grain size, trap‐site passivation, and charge transport, respectively.
Highlights
The M13 bacteriophage, a nature-inspired environmentally friendly biomaterial, is used as a perovskite crystal growth template and a grain boundary passivator in perovskite solar cells
The existence of the M13 bacteriophage induces light scattering effect, which enhances the light absorption in the long-wavelength region around 825 nm. Both the passivation effect of the M13 bacteriophage coordinating to the perovskite defect sites and the light scattering effect intensify when the M13 virus-added perovskite precursor solution is heated at 90 °C prior to the film formation
The M13 bacteriophage has demonstrated metal template capability using the arms along the shaft of their body to bind to charged substances.[11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]
Summary
Denatured M13 Bacteriophage-Templated Perovskite Solar Cells Exhibiting High Efficiency. We can claim that the existence of the viruses themselves certainly do not hinder the charge flow These data clarify the origins of the improved VOC and FF of the denatured M13 bacteriophage-added PSCs. The addition of the M13 bacteriophage into the perovskite precursor led to the significant improvement in PCE of the PSCs. Denaturing the M13 virus at the right temperature (90 °C) increased the PCE even further by breaking down the inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding, which strengthened the interaction between the viruses and the perovskite materials as well as enhancing the light scattering effect. Our finding can bring a significant impact to the field of photovoltaics research as the first work incorporating biological materials in the system
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
