Passivation against oxygen and light induced degradation by the PCBM electron transport layer in planar perovskite solar cells

Journal article

Fully printed perovskite solar cells (PSCs) were fabricated in air with all constituent layers, except for electrodes, deposited by the blade coating technique. The PSCs incorporated, for the first time, a nanometer-thick printed bathocuproine (BCP) hole blocking buffer using blade coating and deposited at relative humidity up to 50%. The PSCs with a p-i-n structure (glass/indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/CH3NH3PbI3/[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM)/BCP/Ag) delivered a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.9% on an active area of 0.5 cm2 when measured under standard test conditions. The PSCs with a blade coated BCP delivered performance of 10% and 63% higher (in relative terms) than those incorporating a spin coated BCP or without any BCP film, respectively. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that blade coated films were more homogeneous and acted also as a surface planarizer leading to a reduction of roughness which improved BCP/Ag interface lowering charge recombination. The demonstration of 15% efficient devices with all constituent layers, including nanometer-thick BCP (∼ 10 nm), deposited by blade coating in air, demonstrates a route for industrialization of this technology

Authors: Lin, C-T; Pont, S; Kim, J; Du, T; Xu, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Journal: Sustainable Energy & Fuels
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 1686-1692
• Publication date: 2018-01-01
• DOI: 10.1039/c8se00095f
• EISSN: 2398-4902
• ISSN: 2398-4902
• Language: English
• Keywords: Layer (electronics); Degradation (telecommunications); Chemical engineering; Passivation; Computer science; Optoelectronics; Materials science; Perovskite (structure); Photochemistry; Oxygen; Nanotechnology; Chemistry; Planar