Photo-Cross-Linked Fullerene-Based Hole Transport Material for Moisture-Resistant Regular Fullerene Sandwich Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Despite the high efficiencies currently achieved with perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the need to develop stable devices, particularly in humid conditions, still remains. This study presents the synthesis of a novel photo-cross-linkable fullerene-based hole transport material named FT 12 . For the first time, the photo-crosslinking process is applied to PSCs, resulting in the preparation of photo-cross-linked FT 12 (PCL FT 12 ). Regular PSCs based on C 60sandwich architectures were fabricated using FT 12 and PCL FT 12 as dopant-free hole transport layers (HTLs) and compared to the reference spiro-OMeTAD. The photovoltaic results demonstrate that both FT 12 and PCL FT 12 significantly outperform pristine spiro-OMeTAD regarding device performance and stability. The comparison between devices based on FT 12 and PCL FT 12 demonstrates that the photo-cross-linking process enhances device efficiency. This improvement is primarily attributed to enhanced charge extraction, partial oxidation of the HTL, increased hole mobility, and improved layer morphology. PCL FT 12 -based devices exhibit improved stability compared to FT 12 devices, primarily due to the superior moisture resistance achieved through photo-cross-linking.