Self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) have emerged as effective carrier transport layers in perovskite (PVK) solar cells because of their unique ability to manipulate interfacial property, as well as simple processing and scalable fabrication. However, the defects and pinholes derived from their sensitive adsorption process inevitably deteriorate the final device performance. Herein, a sputtered nickel oxide (NiOx) interlayer is used as a seed layer to promote the adsorption of the [2‐(3,6‐dimethoxy‐9H‐carbazol‐9‐yl)ethyl]phosphonic acid (MeO‐2PACz) SAM on the indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate. The promoted adsorption is attributed to the enhanced tridentate binding between MeO‐2PACz and NiOx relative to the conventional bidentate binding between MeO‐2PACz and ITO. In addition, the NiOx modification can simultaneously improve the passivation ability and hole‐selectivity of the MeO‐2PACz, provide a favorable energy‐level alignment at the ITO/PVK interface, and prevent a direct contact between PVK and ITO. As a consequence, this NiOx‐seeded MeO‐2PACz hole transport layer enables a significantly enhanced power conversion efficiency of 19.9% in comparison with 18.4% of the control device. This work provides an effective strategy to improve the performance of the SAM‐based photoelectric device.
Tin oxide (SnO 2 ) is widely used in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) as an electron transport layer (ETL) material. However, its high surface trap density has already become a strong factor limiting PSC development. In this work, phosphoric acid is adopted to eliminate the SnO 2 surface dangling bonds to increase electron collection efficiency. The phosphorus mainly exists at the boundaries in the form of chained phosphate groups, bonding with which more than 47.9% of Sn dangling bonds are eliminated. The reduction of surface trap states depresses the electron transport barriers, thus the electron mobility increases about 3 times when the concentration of phosphoric acid is optimized with 7.4 atom % in the SnO 2 precursor. Furthermore, the stability of the perovskite layer deposited on the phosphate-passivated SnO 2 (P-SnO 2 ) ETL is gradually improved with an increase of the concentration. Due to the higher electron collection efficiency, the P-SnO 2 ETLs can dramatically promote the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSCs. As a result, the champion PSC has a PCE of 21.02%. Therefore, it has been proved that this simple method is efficient to improve the quality of ETL for high-performance PSCs.
Wide bandgap (E g ) mixed-halide perovskite has attracted much attention for applications in photovoltaic devices. However, devices featuring this type of perovskite are often subject to a large voltage deficit due to the occurrence of phase segregation, which limits the relevant devices' access to high performances. Here, the correlation of the phase segregation and voltage losses for wide-E g mixed-halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is clarified by experiments and simulations. Taking 1.67 eV E g mixed-halide perovskite as an example, it is confirmed experimentally that the control devices produce a poor physical morphology, a locally widened E g , and an inferior electrical response. By suppressing the phase segregation, the open-circuit voltage (V oc ) can be boosted from 1.15 to 1.20 V, which is a high value for the 1.67 eV E g mixed-halide PSCs. An electrical simulation of phase segregation reveals that the performance degeneration can be attributed to the bulk recombination due to the energy level mismatch of the varied E g s. Moreover, a theoretical perspective is produced to expatiate on the strategies for the high V oc of wide-E g PSCs. This study brings deep guidance to unlock the potential for high-performance mix-halide PSCs.
CsPbI2Br perovskite solar cells (PSCs) based on carbon
electrodes (CEs) are considered to be low-cost and thermally stable
devices. Nevertheless, the insufficient contact and energy level mismatch
between the CsPbI2Br layer and CE hinder the further enhancement
of the cell efficiency. Herein, a carbon black (CB) interlayer was
introduced between the perovskite layer and CE. The hole extraction
was facilitated due to the larger contact area and suitable energy
band alignment in the CsPbI2Br/CB interface. Further investigation
indicated the diffusion of CB nanoparticles from the CE or CB layer
to the CsPbI2Br film after a certain period of time. We
disclosed the formation of a CB-CsPbI2Br bulk heterojunction
structure due to the carbon diffusion, which resulted in an efficiency
enhancement. As a result, a record efficiency of 13.13% is achieved
for carbon-based inorganic PSCs. This work also reveals that the diffusion
of CB nanoparticles in CB-containing PSCs is universal and inevitable,
although this kind of diffusion results in the enhancement of cell
efficiency.
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