Abstract
Metal-halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have become a promising candidate for photovoltaic applications. Current popular organic hole conductors for highly efficient PSCs bring cost and stability issues, which hinder the commercialization of the PSCs. Hole-conductor-free PSCs are attracting great interest because they eliminate the adverse effects of organic hole conductors by transporting holes in the perovskite itself. In this article, we summarize recent progress in conventional, inverted, and printable mesoscopic hole-conductor-free PSCs. Specifically, we emphasize the stunning stability and scale-up manufacturing of printable hole-conductor-free PSCs, discussing their potential from laboratory to market. The causes for hole-conductor-free PSCs’ current low efficiency are also discussed, and are primarily ascribed to energy-level alignment and interface recombination. We believe that the efficiencies of hole-conductor-free PSCs can be enhanced to be comparable with hole-conductor-containing PSCs by interface modification and material design.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
National Renewable Energy Laboratory Efficiency Chart (2019).
Q. Luo, Y. Zhang, C. Liu, J. Li, N. Wang, H. Lin, J. Mater. Chem. A 3, 15996 (2015).
W.H. Nguyen, C.D. Bailie, E.L. Unger, M.D. McGehee, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 10996 (2014).
S.N. Habisreutinger, T. Leijtens, G.E. Eperon, S.D. Stranks, R.J. Nicholas, H.J. Snaith, Nano Lett. 14, 5561 (2014).
Z. Ku, Y. Rong, M. Xu, T. Liu, H. Han, Sci. Rep. 3, 3132 (2013).
A. Mei, X. Li, L. Liu, Z. Ku, T. Liu, Y. Rong, M. Xu, M. Hu, J. Chen, Y. Yang, M. Grätzel, H. Han, Science 345, 295 (2014).
L. Zhang, T. Liu, L. Liu, M. Hu, Y. Yang, A. Mei, H. Han, J. Mater. Chem. A 3, 9165 (2015).
L. Etgar, P. Gao, Z. Xue, Q. Peng, A.K. Chandiran, B. Liu, M.K. Nazeeruddin, M. Grätzel, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 17396 (2012).
S. Aharon, B.E. Cohen, L. Etgar, J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 17160 (2014).
S. Aharon, S. Gamliel, B.E. Cohen, L. Etgar, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16, 10512 (2014).
W. Ruan, Z. Zhang, Y. Hu, F. Bai, T. Qiu, S. Zhang, Appl. Surf. Sci. 465, 420 (2019).
J. Liang, C. Wang, Y. Wang, Z. Xu, Z. Lu, Y. Ma, H. Zhu, Y. Hu, C. Xiao, X. Yi, G. Zhu, H. Lv, L. Ma, T. Chen, Z. Tie, Z. Jin, J. Liu, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 138, 15829 (2016).
J. Liu, Q. Zhou, N.K. Thein, L. Tian, D. Jia, E.M.J. Johansson, X. Zhang, J. Mater. Chem. A 7, 13777 (2019).
S. Gamliel, A. Dymshits, S. Aharon, E. Terkieltaub, L. Etgar, J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 19722 (2015).
Y. Qiang, J. Cheng, Y. Qi, H. Shi, H. Liu, C. Geng, Y Xie, J. Alloys Compd. 809, 151817 (2019).
H. Zhou, Y Shi, K. Wang, Q. Dong, X. Bai, Y. Xing, Y. Du, T. Ma, J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 4600 (2015).
F. Li, C. Wang, P. Liu, Y. Xiao, L. Bai, F. Qi, X. Hou, H. Zhang, Y. Wang, S. Wang, X.-Z. Zhao, Solar RRL 3, 1800297 (2019).
S. Lin, B. Yang, X. Qiu, J. Yan, J. Shi, Y. Yuan, W. Tan, X. Liu, H. Huang, Y. Gao, C. Zhou, Org. Electron. 53, 235 (2018).
L. Qiu, S. He, J. Yang, F. Jin, J. Deng, H. Sun, X. Cheng, G. Guan, X. Sun, H. Zhao, H. Peng, J. Mater Chem. A 4, 10105 (2016).
H. Hu, D. Wang, Y. Zhou, J. Zhang, S. Lv, S. Pang, X. Chen, Z. Liu, N.P. Padture, G. Cui, RSC Adv. 4, 28964 (2014).
W. Kong, W. Li, C. Liu, H. Liu, J. Miao, W. Wang, S. Chen, M. Hu, D. Li, A. Amini, S. Yang, J. Wang, B. Xu, C. Cheng, ACS Nano 13, 1625 (2019).
S. Ye, H. Rao, Z. Zhao, L. Zhang, H. Bao, W. Sun, Y. Li, F. Gu, J. Wang, Z. Liu, Z. Bian, C. Huang, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 7504 (2017).
W.-Q. Wu, Q. Wang, Y. Fang, Y. Shao, S. Tang, Y. Deng, H. Lu, Y. Liu, T. Li, Z. Yang, A. Gruverman, J. Huang, Nat. Commun. 9, 1625 (2018).
Y. Zhang, X. Hu, L. Chen, Z. Huang, Q. Fu, Y. Liu, L. Zhang, Y. Chen, Org. Electron. 30, 281 (2016).
Y. Hu, Z. Zhang, A. Mei, Y. Jiang, X. Hou, Q. Wang, K. Du, Y. Rong, Y. Zhou, G. Xu, H. Han, Adv. Mater 30, 1705786 (2018).
Y. Xiong, X. Zhu, A. Mei, F. Qin, S. Liu, S. Zhang, Y. Jiang, Y. Zhou, H. Han, Solar RRL 2, 1800002 (2018).
C. Tian, A. Mei, S. Zhang, H. Tian, S. Liu, F. Qin, Y. Xiong, Y. Rong, Y. Hu, Y. Zhou, S. Xie, H. Han, Nano Energy 53, 160 (2018).
N.J. Jeon, J.H. Noh, W.S. Yang, Y.C. Kim, S. Ryu, J. Seo, S.I. Seok, Nature 517, 476 (2015).
M. Hu, L. Liu, A. Mei, Y. Yang, T. Liu, H. Han, J. Mater. Chem. A 2, 17115 (2014).
X. Hou, M. Xu, C. Tong, W. Ji, Z. Fu, Z. Wan, F. Hao, Y. Ming, S. Liu, Y. Hu, H. Han, Y. Rong, Y. Yao, J. Power Sources 415, 105 (2019).
Q. Wang, W. Zhang, Z. Zhang, S. Liu, J. Wu, Y. Guan, A. Mei, Y. Rong, Y. Hu, H. Han, Adv. Energy Mater 10, 1903092 (2019).
W. Li, J. Li, J. Li, J. Fan, Y. Mai, L. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. A 4, 17104 (2016).
Y. Hu, S. Si, A. Mei, Y. Rong, H. Liu, X. Li, H. Han, Solar RRL 1, 1600019 (2017).
G. Grancini, C. Roldán-Carmona, I. Zimmermann, E. Mosconi, X. Lee, D. Martineau, S. Narbey, F. Oswald, F. De Angelis, M. Graetzel, M.K. Nazeeruddin, Nat. Commun. 8, 15684 (2017).
X. Li, M. Tschumi, H. Han, S.S. Babkair, R.A. Alzubaydi, A.A. Ansari, S.S. Habib, M.K. Nazeeruddin, S.M. Zakeeruddin, M. Grätzel, Energy Technol. 3, 551 (2015).
A. Priyadarshi, L.J. Haur, P. Murray, D. Fu, S. Kulkarni, G. Xing, T.C. Sum, N. Mathews, S.G. Mhaisalkar, Energy Environ. Sci. 9, 3687 (2016).
F. De Rossi, J.A. Baker, D. Beynon, K.E.A. Hooper, S.M.P. Meroni, D. Williams, Z. Wei, A. Yasin, C. Charbonneau, E.H. Jewell, T.M. Watson, Adv. Mater. Technol. 3, 1800156 (2018).
Y. Rong, Y. Hu, A. Mei, H. Tan, M.I. Saidaminov, S.I. Seok, M.D. McGehee, E.H. Sargent, H. Han, Science 361, eaat8235 (2018).
J. You, L. Meng, T.-B. Song, T.-F. Guo, Y. Yang, W.-H. Chang, Z. Hong, H. Chen, H. Zhou, Q. Chen, Y. Liu, N. De Marco, Y. Yang, Nat. Nanotechnol. 11, 75 (2016).
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21702069, 91733301, and 51902117), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province (No. 2017AAA190), the 111 Project (No. B07038), the Program for HUST Academic Frontier Youth Team (2016QYTD06), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2019kfyXJJS051).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, D., Rong, Y., Hu, Y. et al. Hole-conductor-free perovskite solar cells. MRS Bulletin 45, 449–457 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2020.144
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2020.144