A New Hole Transport Material for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells With Reduced Device Cost

Journal Article · Fri Dec 22 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Solar RRL

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201700175· OSTI ID:1414802

Sun, Yuhao ^[1]; Wang, Changlei ^[2]; Zhao, Dewei ^[2]; Yu, Jiangsheng ^[1]; Yin, Xinxing ^[1]; Grice, Corey R. ^[2]; Awni, Rasha A. ^[2]; Shrestha, Niraj ^[2]; Yu, Yue ^[2]; Guan, Lei ^[2]; Ellingson, Randy J. ^[2]; Tang, Weihua ^[1]; Yan, Yanfa ^[2]

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1. Key Laboratory of Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials (Ministry of Education of China) Nanjing University of Science and Technology Nanjing, 210094 China
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization The University of Toledo Toledo, OH 43606 US

To realize commercialization of perovskie solar cell (PVSC) technology, it is essential to reduce the device costs while maintaining high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). So far, the high cost of the most commonly used hole selective material, 2,2′,7,7′‐Tetrakis (N,N‐di‐p‐methoxyphenylamino)‐9,9′‐spirobifluorene (spiro‐OMeTAD), for high‐PCE PVSCs presents a significant obstacle for device cost reduction. In this work, the synthesis and characterization of a new spiro‐OMeTAD derivative hole selective material, 2,6,14‐tris(5′‐(N,N‐bis(4‐methoxyphenyl)aminophenol‐4‐yl)‐3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophen‐2‐yl)‐triptycene (TET) is reported. TET features a three‐dimensional structure consisting of a triptycene core and triarylamine arms linked by 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene, facilitating efficient hole transport. Planar PVSCs using TET hole selective layers (HSLs) achieved high fill factors of over 81% and steady‐state efficiencies of up to 18.6%, comparable with that (19.0%) of PVSC using spiro‐OMeTAD HSL. Importantly, the hereby reported efficient PVSCs can be produced with very thin TET HSLs (about 30 nm). Considering the lower laboratory synthesis and purification cost ($123 vs. $500 g ⁻¹ ) and thinner HSL (30 vs. 200 nm), the cost for TET on a unit area of one device is 25 times lower than that for high‐purity spiro‐OMeTAD. The device with TET HSL shows good stability under continuous illumination. Therefore, this work makes a significant step forward toward the commercialization of the emerging PVSC technology.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: SunShot Initiative under the Next Generation Photovoltaics 3 program (DE‐FOA‐0000990)
• OSTI ID: 1414802
• Journal Information: Solar RRL, Journal Name: Solar RRL Vol. 2 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 2367-198X
• Publisher: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
• Country of Publication: Germany
• Language: English