Abstract
Indium thin oxide (ITO)-free planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) were fabricated at a low temperature (150 °C) in this work based on the transparent electrode of photolithography processed nickel/gold (Ni/Au) mesh and the high conductivity polymer, PH1000. Ultrathin Au was introduced to increase the conductivity of metal mesh, and the optimal hexagonal Ni (30 nm)/Au (10 nm) mesh (line width of 5 μm) shows a transmittance close to 80% in the visible light region and a sheet resistance lower than 16.9 Ω/sq. The conductive polymer PH1000 not only smooths the raised surface of the metal mesh but also enhances the charge collection ability of metal mesh. The fabricated PSCs have the typical planar structure (glass/Ni-Au mesh/PH1000/PEDOT:PSS/MAyFA1−yPbIxCl3−x/PCBM/BCP/Ag) and the champion PSC (0.09 cm2) obtains a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.88%, negligible current hysteresis, steady current density and PCE outputs, and good process repeatability. Its photovoltaic performance and stability are comparable to the reference PSC based on the ITO electrodes (PCE = 15.70%), which demonstrates that the Ni/Au mesh transparent electrodes are a promising ITO alternative to fabricate efficient PSCs. The relatively lower performance of Ni/Au based PSC results from the relatively slower charge extraction and stronger charge recombination than the ITO based PSC. Further, we tried to fabricate the large area (1 cm2) device and achieve a PCE over 6% with negligible hysteresis and steady current density and PCE outputs. The improvements of perovskite film quality and interface modification should be an effective approach to further enhance the device performance of Ni/Au based PSCs, and the Ni/Au mesh electrode may find wider applications in PSCs and flexible devices.
Highlights
Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites solar cells (PSCs) have attracted more and more attention due to their advantages of low fabrication cost, light weight, solution processability, tunable light absorption range, bipolar transport properties, large-area manufacturing, and compatibility to both rigid and flexible substrates
We have proved in our previous work [36] that the adhesion of Ag on a glass substrate is relatively poorer than that of Ni, and Ni mesh processed by photolithography has been successfully used to fabricate PSCs, but the device performance (PCE = 5.74%) should be further improved
The comparable performance to the indium thin oxide (ITO) based reference PSC demonstrates that the Ni/Au mesh transparent electrodes are a promising ITO alternative to fabricate efficient PSCs
Summary
Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites solar cells (PSCs) have attracted more and more attention due to their advantages of low fabrication cost, light weight, solution processability, tunable light absorption range, bipolar transport properties, large-area manufacturing, and compatibility to both rigid and flexible substrates. Their rapid progress of increased power conversion efficiency (PCEs) from 3.8% to 23.32% and improved stability indicate many potential applications, including in photovoltaic plants, photovoltaic curtains, building integrated photovoltaic materials, wearable electronics devices, and even space power systems [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. The comparable performance to the ITO based reference PSC demonstrates that the Ni/Au mesh transparent electrodes are a promising ITO alternative to fabricate efficient PSCs
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