Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells

Julian Burschka, Norman Pellet, Soo-Jin Moon, Robin Humphry-Baker, Peng Gao, Mohammad K. Nazeeruddin, Michael Grätzel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8638 Scopus citations

Abstract

Following pioneering work, solution-processable organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites - such as CH 3 NH 3 PbX 3 (X = Cl, Br, I) - have attracted attention as light-harvesting materials for mesoscopic solar cells. So far, the perovskite pigment has been deposited in a single step onto mesoporous metal oxide films using a mixture of PbX 2 and CH 3 NH 3 X in a common solvent. However, the uncontrolled precipitation of the perovskite produces large morphological variations, resulting in a wide spread of photovoltaic performance in the resulting devices, which hampers the prospects for practical applications. Here we describe a sequential deposition method for the formation of the perovskite pigment within the porous metal oxide film. PbI 2 is first introduced from solution into a nanoporous titanium dioxide film and subsequently transformed into the perovskite by exposing it to a solution of CH 3 NH 3 I. We find that the conversion occurs within the nanoporous host as soon as the two components come into contact, permitting much better control over the perovskite morphology than is possible with the previously employed route. Using this technique for the fabrication of solid-state mesoscopic solar cells greatly increases the reproducibility of their performance and allows us to achieve a power conversion efficiency of approximately 15 per cent (measured under standard AM1.5G test conditions on solar zenith angle, solar light intensity and cell temperature). This two-step method should provide new opportunities for the fabrication of solution-processed photovoltaic cells with unprecedented power conversion efficiencies and high stability equal to or even greater than those of today's best thin-film photovoltaic devices. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)316-319
Number of pages4
JournalNature
Volume499
Issue number7458
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 10 2013
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-C1-015-21
Acknowledgements: We thank M. Marszalek for recording SEM images, M. Tschumi for help with the stability measurements and K. Schenk for the XRD characterization. We acknowledge financial support from Aisin Cosmos R&D Co., Ltd, Japan; the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) ENERGY.2012.10.2.1; NANOMATCELL, grant agreement no. 308997; the Global Research Laboratory Program, Korea; the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (award no. KUS-C1-015-21) of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; and Solvay S.A. M.K.N. thanks the World Class University programmes (Photovoltaic Materials, Department of Material Chemistry, Korea University), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through the National Research Foundation of Korea (R31-2008-000-10035-0). M.G. thanks the Max Planck Society for a Max Planck Fellowship at the MPI for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany; the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah and the Nanyang Technolocal University, Singapore for Adjunct Professor appointments; and the European Research Council for an Advanced Research Grant (ARG 247404) funded under the “Mesolight” project.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

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