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Potassium thiocyanate additive for PEDOT:PSS layer to fabricate efficient tin-based perovskite solar cells

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International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The commercialized poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is usually used as hole transport layers (HTLs) in tin-based perovskite solar cells (TPSCs). However, the further development has been restricted due to the acidity that could damage the stability of TPSCs. Although the PEDOT:PSS solution can be diluted by water to decrease acidity and reduce the cost of device fabrication, the electrical conductivity will decrease obviously in diluted PEDOT:PSS solution. Herein, potassium thiocyanate (KSCN) is selected to regulate the properties of PEDOT:PSS HTLs from the diluted PEDOT:PSS aqueous solution by water with a volume ratio of 1:1 to prepare efficient TPSCs. The effect of KSCN addition on the structure and photoelectrical properties of PEDOT:PSS HTLs and TPSCs have been systematically studied. At the optimal KSCN concentration, the TPSCs based on KSCN-doped PEDOT:PSS HTLs (KSCN-PSCs) demonstrate the champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.39%, while the reference TPSCs only show a champioan PCE of 6.70%. The further analysis demonstrates that the KSCN additive increases the electrical conductivity of HTLs prepared by the diluted PEDOT:PSS solution, improves the microstructure of perovskite film, and inhibits carrier recombination in TPSCs, leading to the reduced hysteresis effect and enhanced PCE in KSCN-PSCs. This work gives a low-cost and practical strategy to develop a high-quality PEDOT:PSS HTLs from diluted PE-DOT:PSS aqueous solution for efficient TPSCs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by Guangzhou Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 303523).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, China

    Xu Zhao & Shaozhen Li

  2. Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Shoudeng Zhong, Shuqi Wang & Sujuan Wu

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  1. Xu Zhao
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  2. Shoudeng Zhong
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  4. Shaozhen Li
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Correspondence to Shaozhen Li or Sujuan Wu.

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Zhao, X., Zhong, S., Wang, S. et al. Potassium thiocyanate additive for PEDOT:PSS layer to fabricate efficient tin-based perovskite solar cells. Int J Miner Metall Mater 30, 2451–2458 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-023-2738-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-023-2738-y

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