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Stabilizing semi-transparent perovskite solar cells with a polymer composite hole transport layer

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Semi-transparent perovskite solar cells (ST-PSCs) have broad applications in building integrated photovoltaics. However, the stability of ST-PSCs needs to be improved, especially in n-i-p ST-PSCs since the doped 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenyl-amine)-9,9′-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD) is unstable at elevated temperatures and high humidity. In this work, a π-conjugated polymer poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophene-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1′,3′-di-2-thienyl-5′,7′-bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1′,2′-c:4′,5′-c′]dithiophene-4,8-dione)] (PBDB-T) is selected to form a polymer composite hole transport layer (HTL) with Spiro-OMeTAD. The sulfur atom of the thiophene unit and the carbonyl group of the polymer interact with the undercoordinated Pb2+ at the perovskite surface, which stabilizes the perovskite/HTL interface and passivates the interfacial defects. The incorporation of the polymer also increases the glass transition temperature and the moisture resistance of Spiro-OMeTAD. As a result, we obtain ST-PSCs with a champion efficiency of 13.71% and an average visible light transmittance of 36.04%. Therefore, a high light utilization efficiency of 4.94% can be obtained. Moreover, the encapsulated device can maintain 84% of the initial efficiency after 751 h under continuous one-sun illumination (at 30% relative humidity) at the open circuit and the unencapsulated device can maintain 80% of the initial efficiency after maximum power tracking for more than 1250 h under continuous one-sun illumination.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22179042 and U21A2078) and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (Nos. 2020J06021 and 2020J01064).

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  1. Yongbin Jin and Huiping Feng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xiamen Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Advanced Manufacturing, Institute of Luminescent Materials and Information Displays, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Yongbin Jin, Huiping Feng, Zheng Fang, Liu Yang, Kaikai Liu, Bingru Deng, Jingfu Chen, Xueling Chen, Yawen Zhong, Jinxin Yang, Chengbo Tian, Liqiang Xie & Zhanhua Wei

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  1. Yongbin Jin
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  2. Huiping Feng
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Correspondence to Liqiang Xie or Zhanhua Wei.

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Jin, Y., Feng, H., Fang, Z. et al. Stabilizing semi-transparent perovskite solar cells with a polymer composite hole transport layer. Nano Res. 17, 1500–1507 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5975-5

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