Role of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides as hole transport layer and counter electrode in solar cells

Abstract

Summary Photovoltaic (PV) technology got much attention in the past few decades in developing advanced and environment friendly solar cells (SCs). However, high cost, unstable nature, and low efficiency are major limitations towards commercialization of SCs. To overcome the issues, two‐dimensional materials (2DMs) have been exploited due to low cost, high catalytic activity, fast charge separation, and better electrochemical performance. The review emphasis on (a) the electrochemical performance of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) as a hole transport layer (HTL) in SCs and (b) to explore low‐cost and effective counter electrode (CE) based on graphene and TMDCs for dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The review presents a comparative analysis of 2DMs as HTL and CE to attain highly efficient and low‐cost PV devices. Multiple combinations of the material with graphene, graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), tungsten disulfide (WS2), molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as HTL, and CE material in PV cells are discussed and comparatively analyzed. Numerous strategies are briefly discussed to enhance the efficiency of SCs by utilizing graphene and TMDCs based HTL and CEs. The review focuses on the recent progress in developing low‐cost and highly efficient PV devices by using 2DMs. Our study reveals that GO/PEDOT:PSS demonstrate a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.1% when fabricated at different revolutions. Moreover, our statistical analysis unveils that efficiency of the cell can be enhanced by optimizing the layer thickness, which provide a route to develop highly efficient and better performance SCs that can be exploited for future commercial applications.

Sinc and discrete singular convolution for analysis of three‐layer composite of perovskite solar cell

“…The PCE % slightly decreases with the increase in ETL and HTL thickness. Figures 10,12,13 display that the FF % is inversely related to the temperature. Therefore, it is preferable to use PCBM/ perovskite/CuI materials with a high ETL thickness of nearly 500 nm, and low HTL thickness of nearly 50 nm at low temperature (T = 260 k) to get a high FF, but low ETL and HTL thickness of nearly 50 nm to get high PCE.…”

“…The equations for the hole and electron transport layers are solved, and then the equations, where the results become the boundary conditions for the absorber layer, are solved. Firstly, applying block-marching method and substitution from Equations ( 21) to (29) into governing Equations ( 11) to (13), which can be written as follow:…”

“…9,10 The solar cell transport layers can decrease the carriers' recombination at the interface surfaces, so the stability and efficiency of solar cell performance increase. [11][12][13] Alzaid 12 added 2D rGO and GO materials for HTL and ETL in PSCs, facilitating the fast charge transport and providing high thermal and mechanical stability. Thus, the overall PCE of the device increases, which is recorded at 22%.…”

Numerical analysis of dopant‐free asymmetric silicon heterostructure solar cell with SiO 2 as passivation layer

“…Earlier, MoO x had been substituted for poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as a hole-extraction layer in various organic devices. [37][38][39] However, because of reduced optical transparency and stability issues, the performance of organic photovoltaic (OPV) is typically on a low threshold with η being reported less than 7%. 38,40,41 Recently, MoO x began to find its roots in SHJ chiefly because of the stable performance of this technology that entails amalgamation of materials with a significant difference in work function, thereby, leading to an effective band bending for charge carrier transportation.…”

“…Earlier, MoO x had been substituted for poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as a hole‐extraction layer in various organic devices 37‐39 . However, because of reduced optical transparency and stability issues, the performance of organic photovoltaic (OPV) is typically on a low threshold with η being reported less than 7% 38,40,41 .…”