ABSTRACT
Operational stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is rapidly becoming one of the pressing bottlenecks for their upscaling and integration of such promising photovoltaic technology. Instability of the hole transport layer (HTL) has been considered as one of the potential origins of short life-time of the PSCs. In this work, by varying the molecular weight (MW) of doped poly(triarylamine)(PTAA) HTL, we improved by one order of magnitude the charge mobility inside the HTL and the charge transfer at the perovskite/HTL interface. We demonstrate that this occurs via the enhancement of polaron delocalization on the polymeric chains through the combined effect of doping strategy and MW tuning. By using high MW PTAA doped combining three different dopant, we demonstrate stable PSCs with typical power conversion efficiencies above 20%, retain more than 90% of the initial efficiency after 1080 h thermal stress at 85 °C and 87% of initial efficiency after 160 h exposure against 1 sun light soaking. By using this doping-MW strategy, we realized perovskite solar modules with an efficiency of 17% on an active area of 43 cm2, keeping above 90% of the initial efficiency after 800 h thermal stress at 85 °C. These results, obtained in ambient conditions, pave the way toward the industrialization of PSC-based photovoltaic technology.
Authors:
Narges Yaghoobi Nia, Mahmoud Zendehdel, Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, Luigi Angelo Castriotta, Felix U. Kosasih, Enrico Lamanna, Mohammad Mahdi Abolhasani, Zhaoxiang Zheng, Zahra Andaji-Garmaroudi, Kamal Asadi, Giorgio Divitini, Caterina Ducati, Richard H. Friend and Aldo Di Carlo
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105685
Nano Energy, Volume 82
In progress (April 2021)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211285520312581
ABSTRACT
Carbon nanotube/polymer composites have recently received considerable attention for thermoelectric (TE) applications. The TE power factor can be significantly improved by forming composites with carbon nanotubes. However, the formation of a uniform and well-ordered nanocomposite film is still challenging because of the creation of agglomerates and the uneven distribution of nanotubes. Here, we developed a facile, efficient, and easy-processable route to produce uniform and aligned nanocomposite films of P3HT and carbon nanotube forest (CNTF). The electrical conductivity of a pristine P3HT film was improved from ∼10–7 to 160 S/cm thanks to the presence of CNTF. Also, a further boost in TE performance was achieved using two additives, lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (LiTFSI) and tert-butylpyridine. By adding the additives to P3HT, the degree of interchain order increased, which facilitated the charge transport through the composite. Under the optimal conditions, the incorporation of CNTF and additives led to values of the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and power factor up to rising 92 μV/K, 130 S/cm, and 110 μW/m K2, respectively, at a temperature of 344.15 K. The excellent TE performance of the hybrid films originates from the dramatically increased electrical conductivity and the improved Seebeck coefficient by CNTF and additives, respectively.
Authors:
Saeed Mardi, Khabib Yusupov, Patricia M. Martinez, Anvar Zakhidov, Alberto Vomiero, Andrea Reale
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c02663
ACS Omega 2021, 6, 2, 1073–1082
Publication Date: January 7, 2021
ABSTRACT
In this work we demonstrate the beneficial role of MXene doping for both perovskite absorber and electron transporting layer in NiO-based inverted perovskite solar cells. The addition of MXenes permits on one side to easy tune the energy level alignment at perovskite/charge transporting layer interfaces, and on the other side to passivate traps states within the cell structure, which in turn improves charge extraction and collection at the electrodes. The MXene-based engineered cells showed superior performance, with power conversion efficiency exceeding 19% and improved stabilized power output with respect to reference devices. Due to the possibility to finely tune the MXene work function during their chemical synthesis and to their capability in modifying the optoelectronic properties of PSC layers when used as dopant, the proposed approach opens countless ways for engineering inverted PSC structure, strongly promising in term of long-term stability and future scalability on large area devices.
Authors:
D. Saranin, S. Pescetelli, A. Pazniak, D. Rossi, A. Liedl, A. Yakusheva, L. Luchnikov, D. Podgorny, P. Gostischev, S. Didenko, A. Tameev, D. Lizzit, M. Angelucci, R. Cimino, R. Larciprete, A. Agresti, A. Di Carlo
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2021.105771
Nano Energy
Volume 82, April 2021, 105771
ABSTRACT
The use of solution processes to fabricate perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represents a winning strategy to reduce capital expenditure, increase the throughput, and allow for process flexibility needed to adapt PVs to new applications. However, the typical fabrication process for PSC development to date is performed in an inert atmosphere (nitrogen), usually in a glovebox, hampering the industrial scale-up. In this work, we demonstrate, for the first time, the use of double-cation perovskite (forsaking the unstable methylammonium (MA) cation) processed in ambient air by employing potassium-doped graphene oxide (GO-K) as an interlayer, between the mesoporous TiO2 and the perovskite layer and using infrared annealing (IRA). We upscaled the device active area from 0.09 to 16 cm2 by blade coating the perovskite layer, exhibiting power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 18.3 and 16.10% for 0.1 and 16 cm2 active area devices, respectively. We demonstrated how the efficiency and stability of MA-free-based perovskite deposition in air have been improved by employing GO-K and IRA.
Authors:
Luigi Angelo Castriotta, Fabio Matteocci, Luigi Vesce, Lucio Cinà, Antonio Agresti, Sara Pescetelli, Alessandro Ronconi, Markus Löffler, Minas M. Stylianakis, Francesco Di Giacomo, Paolo Mariani, Maurizio Stefanelli, Emily Mae Speller, Antonio Alfano, Barbara Paci, Amanda Generosi, Fabio Di Fonzo, Annamaria Petrozza, Bernd Rellinghaus, Emmanuel Kymakis, Aldo Di Carlo
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c18920
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
We fabricated perovskite based solar cells using CH3NH3PbI3-xClx with different hole transporting materials such as Spiro-OMeTAD and P3HT. By tuning the energy level of P3HT and optimizing the device’s fabrication, we reached 9.3% of power conversion efficiency showing that P3HT can be a suitable low cost hole transport material for efficient perovskite based solar cells.
[Di Giacomo et al, J. Power Sources 251, 152 (2014)]
ABSTRACT
In the present work we used some crystallization trends which could be classified as Crystal Engineering (CE) methods, for deposition of a pure cubic-phase thin film of CH3NH3PbI3 at the surface of mesoporous TiO2 layer. Accordingly, by using the CE approach in air, we fabricated high efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSC) and perovskite solar modules (PSM) utilizing several Hole Transport Layers (HTLs). The results show that the CE approach remarkably improved the device performance reaching a power conversion efficiency of 17%, 16.8% and 7% for spiro-OMeTAD, P3HT and HTL free, respectively. Furthermore, perovskite solar modules (active area of 10.1 cm2), could reach an overall efficiency of 13% and 12.1% by using spiro-OMeTAD and P3HT as HTLs, respectively. Sealed modules showed promising results in terms of stability maintaining 70% of the initial efficiency after 350 hours of light soaking at maximum power point.
N. Yaghoobi Nia, M. Zendehdel, F. Matteocci, L. Cinà, A. Di Carlo
J. Mat. Chem. A
6, 659-671
DOI: 10.1039/C7TA08038G
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/ta/c7ta08038g#!divAbstract
A new architecture of polymeric cells that foresees the presence of DNA as a constituent layer: it is the result of the study conducted jointly by the new ultrafast spectroscopy laboratory of the Institute "Struttura della Materia" of CNR (Cnr-Ism) and the researchers of the Department of Engineering Electronics of the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and of CHOSE.
The results of the research are published in Advanced Functional Materials (No. 28 of 27 June 2018):
The complete article can be found at link:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adfm.201707126