Abstract
The stability of perovskite solar cells (PSC) is often compromised by the organic hole transport materials (HTMs). We report here the effect of WO3 as an inorganic HTM for carbon electrodes for improved stability in PSCs, which are made under ambient conditions. Sequential fabrication of the PSC was performed under ambient conditions with mesoporous TiO2/Al2O3/CH3NH3PbI3 layers, and, on the top of these layers, the WO3 nanoparticle-embedded carbon electrode was used. Different concentrations of WO3 nanoparticles as HTM incorporated in carbon counter electrodes were tested, which varied the stability of the cell under ambient conditions. The addition of 7.5% WO3 (by volume) led to a maximum power conversion efficiency of 10.5%, whereas the stability of the cells under ambient condition was ∼350 h, maintaining ∼80% of the initial efficiency under light illumination. At the same time, the higher WO3 concentration exhibited an efficiency of 9.5%, which was stable up to ∼500 h with a loss of only ∼15% of the initial efficiency under normal atmospheric conditions and light illumination. This work demonstrates an effective way to improve the stability of carbon-based perovskite solar cells without affecting the efficiency for future applications.
Highlights
Technology development with improved levels of sustainability can create opportunity for today’s state of the art photovoltaic devices as well as develop existing materials to improve performance
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have recently become one of such technology and an area of interest owing to their lower preparation cost and highconversion efficiency in the field of solar cell research.[1−3] The investigation in the field of perovskite solar cells (PSC) has increased in recent years, and a highest recorded efficiency of 25.2% was achieved in early 2019, which has been independently confirmed by the international authority and authenticating institution, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).[4,5]
In addition to the high photoconversion efficiencies (PCEs) achieved with the halide perovskites, these materials are composed of only earthabundant elements and can be prepared by various low-cost methods
Summary
Technology development with improved levels of sustainability can create opportunity for today’s state of the art photovoltaic devices as well as develop existing materials to improve performance. Due to the ease of fabrication and higher efficiency, solar cells are often chosen as sources of electrical energy harvester, emerging markets such as self-powering systems and portable/ wearable electronics.[33] Recently, Huan et al reported an inexpensive photovoltaic-electrochemical cell system containing a low-cost perovskite photovoltaic minimodule, exhibiting ∼2.3% solar-to-hydrocarbon efficiency.[34] Intensive work is continuing for commercialization of perovskite photovoltaic technology as well.[35−37] In these ways, several attempts have been made to enhance the performance of PSCs. In spite of encouraging performance, the drawbacks of organic HTM allow the development of inorganic HTM-based PSCs using Co3O4,38 CuSCN,[39] NiO,[40,41] CuS,[42] and others.[43] Devices based on inorganic HTMs demonstrated better stability compared to a spiroOMeTAD-based PSC in ambient condition.[44,45] Overall, to address the shortcomings associated with regular PSCs, carbon-based mesoscopic PSCs with inorganic HTM have attracted serious attention.
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