Mesostructured Fullerene Electrodes for Highly Efficient n-i-p Perovskite Solar Cells

Yufei Zhong; Rahim Munir; Ahmed Hesham Balawi; Arif D. Sheikh; Liyang Yu; Ming Chun Tang; Hanlin Hu; Frédéric Laquai; Aram Amassian

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00455

Mesostructured Fullerene Electrodes for Highly Efficient n-i-p Perovskite Solar Cells

Yufei Zhong, Rahim Munir, Ahmed Hesham Balawi, Arif D. Sheikh, Liyang Yu, Ming Chun Tang, Hanlin Hu, Frédéric Laquai, Aram Amassian^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electron-transporting layers in today's state-of-the-art n-i-p organohalide perovskite solar cells are almost exclusively made of metal oxides. Here, we demonstrate a novel mesostructured fullerene-based electron-transporting material (ETM) that is crystalline, hydrophobic, and cross-linked, rendering it solvent- and heat-resistant for subsequent perovskite solar cell fabrication. The fullerene ETM is shown to enhance the structural and electronic properties of the CH₃NH₃PbI₃ layer grown atop, reducing its Urbach energy from ∼26 to 21 meV, while also increasing crystallite size and improving texture. The resulting mesostructured n-i-p solar cells achieve reduced recombination, improved device-to-device variation, reduced hysteresis, and a power conversion efficiency above 15%, surpassing the performance of similar devices prepared using mesoporous TiO₂ and well above the performance of planar heterojunction devices on amorphous or crystalline [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). This work is the first demonstration of a viable, hydrophobic, and high-performance mesostructured electron-accepting contact to work effectively in n-i-p perovskite solar cells.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1049-1056
Number of pages	8
Journal	ACS Energy Letters
Volume	1
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00455
State	Published - Nov 11 2016

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. A.H. Balawi and F. Laquai thank K. Vandewal and M. Baier for contributing to the setup for photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS). Part of this work was performed at D-line at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at Cornell University. CHESS is supported by NSF and NIH/NIGMS via NSF Award DMR-1332208. Dr. Detlef-M. Smilgies and Dr. Ruipeng Li from CHESS are thanked for their assistance with beamline setup for the GIWAXS measurements.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Chemical Society.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry (miscellaneous)
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Fuel Technology
Energy Engineering and Power Technology
Materials Chemistry

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10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00455

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title = "Mesostructured Fullerene Electrodes for Highly Efficient n-i-p Perovskite Solar Cells",

abstract = "Electron-transporting layers in today's state-of-the-art n-i-p organohalide perovskite solar cells are almost exclusively made of metal oxides. Here, we demonstrate a novel mesostructured fullerene-based electron-transporting material (ETM) that is crystalline, hydrophobic, and cross-linked, rendering it solvent- and heat-resistant for subsequent perovskite solar cell fabrication. The fullerene ETM is shown to enhance the structural and electronic properties of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer grown atop, reducing its Urbach energy from ∼26 to 21 meV, while also increasing crystallite size and improving texture. The resulting mesostructured n-i-p solar cells achieve reduced recombination, improved device-to-device variation, reduced hysteresis, and a power conversion efficiency above 15%, surpassing the performance of similar devices prepared using mesoporous TiO2 and well above the performance of planar heterojunction devices on amorphous or crystalline [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). This work is the first demonstration of a viable, hydrophobic, and high-performance mesostructured electron-accepting contact to work effectively in n-i-p perovskite solar cells.",

author = "Yufei Zhong and Rahim Munir and Balawi, {Ahmed Hesham} and Sheikh, {Arif D.} and Liyang Yu and Tang, {Ming Chun} and Hanlin Hu and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Laquai and Aram Amassian",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. A.H. Balawi and F. Laquai thank K. Vandewal and M. Baier for contributing to the setup for photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS). Part of this work was performed at D-line at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at Cornell University. CHESS is supported by NSF and NIH/NIGMS via NSF Award DMR-1332208. Dr. Detlef-M. Smilgies and Dr. Ruipeng Li from CHESS are thanked for their assistance with beamline setup for the GIWAXS measurements. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 American Chemical Society.",

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AU - Zhong, Yufei

AU - Munir, Rahim

AU - Balawi, Ahmed Hesham

AU - Sheikh, Arif D.

AU - Yu, Liyang

AU - Tang, Ming Chun

AU - Hu, Hanlin

AU - Laquai, Frédéric

AU - Amassian, Aram

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. A.H. Balawi and F. Laquai thank K. Vandewal and M. Baier for contributing to the setup for photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS). Part of this work was performed at D-line at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at Cornell University. CHESS is supported by NSF and NIH/NIGMS via NSF Award DMR-1332208. Dr. Detlef-M. Smilgies and Dr. Ruipeng Li from CHESS are thanked for their assistance with beamline setup for the GIWAXS measurements. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2016/11/11

Y1 - 2016/11/11

N2 - Electron-transporting layers in today's state-of-the-art n-i-p organohalide perovskite solar cells are almost exclusively made of metal oxides. Here, we demonstrate a novel mesostructured fullerene-based electron-transporting material (ETM) that is crystalline, hydrophobic, and cross-linked, rendering it solvent- and heat-resistant for subsequent perovskite solar cell fabrication. The fullerene ETM is shown to enhance the structural and electronic properties of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer grown atop, reducing its Urbach energy from ∼26 to 21 meV, while also increasing crystallite size and improving texture. The resulting mesostructured n-i-p solar cells achieve reduced recombination, improved device-to-device variation, reduced hysteresis, and a power conversion efficiency above 15%, surpassing the performance of similar devices prepared using mesoporous TiO2 and well above the performance of planar heterojunction devices on amorphous or crystalline [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). This work is the first demonstration of a viable, hydrophobic, and high-performance mesostructured electron-accepting contact to work effectively in n-i-p perovskite solar cells.

AB - Electron-transporting layers in today's state-of-the-art n-i-p organohalide perovskite solar cells are almost exclusively made of metal oxides. Here, we demonstrate a novel mesostructured fullerene-based electron-transporting material (ETM) that is crystalline, hydrophobic, and cross-linked, rendering it solvent- and heat-resistant for subsequent perovskite solar cell fabrication. The fullerene ETM is shown to enhance the structural and electronic properties of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer grown atop, reducing its Urbach energy from ∼26 to 21 meV, while also increasing crystallite size and improving texture. The resulting mesostructured n-i-p solar cells achieve reduced recombination, improved device-to-device variation, reduced hysteresis, and a power conversion efficiency above 15%, surpassing the performance of similar devices prepared using mesoporous TiO2 and well above the performance of planar heterojunction devices on amorphous or crystalline [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). This work is the first demonstration of a viable, hydrophobic, and high-performance mesostructured electron-accepting contact to work effectively in n-i-p perovskite solar cells.

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M3 - Article

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JO - ACS Energy Letters

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IS - 5

ER -

Mesostructured Fullerene Electrodes for Highly Efficient n-i-p Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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