Low-Temperature Processed TiOx/Zn1-xCdxS Nanocomposite for Efficient MAPbIxCl1-x Perovskite and PCDTBT:PC70BM Polymer Solar Cells.

Binh Duong,Khathawut Lohawet,David A Lewis,Narong Chanlek,Tanyakorn Muangnapoh,Anirudh Sharma,Hideki Nakajima,Pisist Kumnorkaew

doi:10.3390/polym11060980

Abstract

The majority of high-performance perovskite and polymer solar cells consist of a TiO2 electron transport layer (ETL) processed at a high temperature (>450 °C). Here, we demonstrate that low-temperature (80 °C) ETL thin film of TiOx:Zn1−xCdxS can be used as an effective ETL and its band energy can be tuned by varying the TiOx:Zn1−xCdxS ratio. At the optimal ratio of 50:50 (vol%), the MAPbIxCl1−x perovskite and PCBTBT:PC70BM polymer solar cells achieved 9.79% and 4.95%, respectively. Morphological and optoelectronic analyses showed that tailoring band edges and homogeneous distribution of the local surface charges could improve the solar cells efficiency by more than 2%. We proposed a plausible mechanism to rationalize the variation in morphology and band energy of the ETL.

Highlights

The ever-growing energy demand relies mainly on the combustion of fossil fuel, which continues to cause serious resource depletion and environmental pollution
The perovskite solar cells made of T100, T75:Z25, T50:Z50, T25:Z75 and Z100 achieved the efficiencies of 7.74%, 9.47%, 9.79%, 8.07% and 6.74%, respectively
Incorporating Zn1−x Cdx S shows an increase in current density from 15 mA/cm2 to 18 mA/cm2 for perovskite solar cells (Figure 1b) and from 8 mA/cm2 to 11 mA/cm2 for polymer solar cells (Table 1) and Figure S1 indicating better carrier extraction from the active layer after electron transport layer (ETL) modification

Summary

Introduction

The ever-growing energy demand relies mainly on the combustion of fossil fuel, which continues to cause serious resource depletion and environmental pollution. Solar energy is a proven renewable energy that is environmentally friendly and free from regional restriction. While dye-sensitized, polymer and perovskite solar cells are the emerging photovoltaic devices that are both lightweight and low cost, they have their own set of problems that inhibit their large-scale production as was highlighted in recent review papers [1,2,3]. To realize their practical applications, device stability is one of the critical factors that needs to be understood and overcome. Different approaches have been proposed for a more stable polymer [4,5,6], dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells [7,8,9,10,11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion