Abstract
Hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites are low-cost solution-processable solar cell materials with photovoltaic properties that rival those of crystalline silicon. The perovskite films are typically sandwiched between thin layers of hole and electron transport materials, which efficiently extract photogenerated charges. This affords high-energy conversion efficiencies but results in significant performance and fabrication challenges. Herein we present a simple charge transport layer-free perovskite solar cell, comprising only a perovskite layer with two interdigitated gold back-contacts. Charge extraction is achieved via self-assembled monolayers and their associated dipole fields at the metal-perovskite interface. Photovoltages of ~600 mV generated by self-assembled molecular monolayer modified perovskite solar cells are equivalent to the built-in potential generated by individual dipole layers. Efficient charge extraction results in photocurrents of up to 12.1 mA cm−2 under simulated sunlight, despite a large electrode spacing.
Highlights
Hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites are low-cost solution-processable solar cell materials with photovoltaic properties that rival those of crystalline silicon
In conclusion, we have presented the first implementation of a photovoltaic device, in which charge extraction is solely achieved by a dipole field generated via molecular monolayers
Through modelling we demonstrated that high-performance solar cell devices can be obtained using the back-contact electrode design with a higher work function asymmetry between the electrodes and optimized electrode spacing
Summary
Hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites are low-cost solution-processable solar cell materials with photovoltaic properties that rival those of crystalline silicon. The photovoltaic properties of CTL-free PSCs, in which metals or graphene directly contact the perovskite to create Schottky junction solar cells[9,10,11,12,13,14], depend strongly on the built-in potential established by the work function difference of the two contacts. These differences can be temporarily induced in gold-perovskitegold solar cells by applying a large external bias (greater than 2 V). This concept has been demonstrated successfully in organic light-emitting-diodes and organic field-effect transistors, but not explicitly within solar cells[25,26,27]
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