Sharif Digital Repository

In a nutshell, this study outlines the efficacy of mixed dimensional (2D/3D) hybrid perovskites by developing a new class of triple-cation quasi-2D perovskites having (S0.97S′0.03)2[Cs0.05(FA0.97MA0.03)0.95]n-1Pbn(I0.07Br0.03)3n+1 general composition, in which a mixture of ý5-ammonium valeric acid ýiodideý (S) and tetra-n-octylammonium ýbromide (S′) was employed ýas a spacer.ý The effect of the 2D and 3D structures molar ratios (i.e., C=2D/2D+3D) in the range of 0-100 % on photovoltaic performance of the deposited photoanodes was systemically studied. Drawing a comparison between such compounds and an analogous triple-cation 3D counterpart (i.e., Cs0.05(FA0.83MA0.17)0.95Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3) as... 

The quality of perovskite films plays a crucial role in improving the optoelectronic properties and performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, high-quality CsxFA1−xPbI3 perovskite films with different compositions (x = 0, 5, 10, and 15) are achieved by controlling the amount of cesium chloride (CsCl) in the respective FAPbI3 precursor solution. The effects of CsCl addition on the morphological and optoelectronic properties of the resulting perovskite films and on the performance of the corresponding devices are systematically studied. Introduction of CsCl into FAPbI3 shows a great potential to stabilize the α-FAPbI3 perovskite phase by forming CsxFA1−xPbI3 films with improved... 

The efficiency of planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with SnO2 as electron transport layer is already more than 19% achieved under controlled atmosphere. PSCs with solution processed SnO2 show high hysteresis and low fill factor. One way to improve the planar PSCs is using buffer layer between electron transport layer and perovskite to enhance the photo-electron extraction process. In this study, SnO2 and SnO2/CdS layers were fabricated by solution process using a suspension including CdS nanoparticles synthesized via a simple solution route. Then planar PSCs with the structure of Glass/FTO/ETL/Perovskite/Sprio-OMeTAD/Au were fabricated in ambient air condition using SnO2 and SnO2/CdS as... 

Scalable coating methods have recently emerged as practical alternative deposition techniques to the conventional spin-coating despite their lower yielding power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). The most important barrier acting against the use of scalable deposition methods to get a highly absorbing (>95%) film with controlled morphology in the high crystallinity of perovskite particles is the impossibility of antisolvent dripping during the deposition. Here, we demonstrate the positive role of both the surfactant-engineering and the vacuum-annealing (<100 Pa) process in improving the device performance to overcome this limit. A detailed optimization of the vacuum-assisted meniscus printing... 

Carbazole compounds are p-type hole-transporting materials (HTMs) useful for perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, we developed a new class of carbazol based HTMs; non-fused 3-D asymmetric structures (S14 and S12) as HTM of PSCs. To the best of our knowledge, there is no report on non-fused HTMs with a high glass transition temperature (Tg = 165 °C), which reduces crystallization and suppresses grain boundaries in glassy film, resulting in long-term durability. Experimental results show that tuning the carbazole moiety in S14 structure has a constructive influence on geometrical alignment, hole mobility, hydrophobicity, stability as well as efficiency. The resultant power conversion... 

Inorganic hole-transport materials (HTMs) have been frequently applied in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and are a promising solution to improve the poor stability of PSCs. In this study, we investigate solution-processed copper indium gallium disulfide (CIGS) nanocrystals (NCs) as a dopant-free inorganic HTM in n-i-p type PSCs. Moreover, Cs0.05(MA0.17-FA0.83)0.95Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3 mixed-halide perovskite with proper crystalline quality and long-time stability was utilized as the light-absorbing layer under ambient conditions. To optimize the cell performance and better charge extraction from the perovskite layer, the Ga concentration in the Cu(In1-XGaX)S2 composition was changed, and the X... 

In this research, inorganic copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) hole transport layer (HTL) was applied in conventional structure of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Besides, mixed halides perovskite (Cs0.05(MA0.17FA0.83)0.95Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3) was utilized as the light absorbing layer and deposited on FTO/compact TiO2 substrates through a one-step coating method in ambient condition. The mentioned perovskite is more stable against high temperature, high irradiation and humidity compared to commonly applied MAPbI3 perovskite. Nevertheless, the CuSCN could not be well dissolved in usual dipropyl sulfide solution and should be deposited for several times to achieve suitable thickness, this could reduce the... 

Hole-transporter-free perovskite solar cells carrying a carbon back contact electrode provide the possibility of making full printable low cost and stable devices, even though their efficiency is substantially lower than those made in the standard configuration. The present work searched for simple and easy routes for constructing such devices, demonstrating that organic components do enhance device efficiency but only to a level that is not worth the trouble nor the cost. Devices based on a triple mesoporous layer of titania/zirconia/carbon with perovskite infiltration gave an efficiency of 10.7%. After 180 days of storing under ambient conditions, a small loss of efficiency has been... 

A modeling approach is presented for the first time to model the dependence of short-circuit current density (J sc ) and open-circuit voltage (V oc ) on the grain size g in three thin film solar cells including the emerging perovskites. The variation of J sc and V oc with the grain size (g) of three different solar cells with CdTe, CZTS and perovskite absorber layers are modelled and fitted with the experimental dataset collected from relevant literature. The experimental literature suggested that the grain size of absorber layers in solar cells is controlled during the deposition process by adjusting the growth rate, temperature and ambient. The model has been successfully applied to the... 

Engineering the chemical composition of inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite materials is an effective strategy to boost the performance and operational stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Among the diverse family of ABX3 perovskites, methylammonium-free mixed A-site cation CsxFA1-xPbI3 perovskites appear as attractive light-absorber materials because of their optimum band gap, superior optoelectronic property, and good thermal stability. Here, we develop a simple and very effective one-step solution method for the preparation of high-quality (Cs)x(FA)1-xPbI3 perovskite films upon the addition of excess CsCl to the FAPbI3 precursor solution. It is found that the addition of CsCl as a... 

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted significant attention due to their excellent efficiency reaching 22.1% in just the past few years. Despite their high efficiency, the limited long-term stability of PSCs has to be overcome. Moisture environments has been recognized as a main degradation pathway of perovskite materials. This review summarizes recent studies about relationship of the stability of PSCs with moisture environment. We also discuss the current standard strategies for enhancing the stability of PSCs by modifying the properties of either the perovskite material itself or its interfaces  

FAPbI3 perovskites are excellent candidates for fabrication of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with high efficiency and stability. However, these perovskites exhibit phase instability problem at room temperature. In this work, to address this challenge we use methylammonium chloride (MACl) as an additive and employed a layer-by-layer thermal evaporation technique to fabricate high-quality perovskite films on a large scale of 25 cm2. The optimized perovskite films show high crystallinity with large grains in the μm-range and reveals phase stability due to the presence of MACl after the annealing process. Finally, we achieved PSCs with 17.7% and 15.9% for active areas of 0.1 cm2 and 0.8 cm2,... 

Scale-up deposition methods in perovskite solar cell research, are mostly used under humidity environment outside the glove-box. Also, the as-printed absorbing layer before the post-annealing process is always wet. Thus, controlling the morphology and crystallization of perovskite thin-films in up-scaled deposition systems is difficult and strongly investigated by the researchers. In this work, we introduce an anti-solvent-free meniscus printing method in which, the absorbing perovskite film with optimal performance is achieved. To this end, we check the printing parameters to get to the optimized film characteristics. Also, a vacuum chamber (<100 Pa) is used for 30 s to remove the solvent... 

Perovskite solar cells are well known for being low cost, solution-based, and efficient solar cells; however, the high price of the conventional hole-collector electrode (Spiro-OMeTAD/Gold) and the high price and complexity of depositing gold on large scales are major barriers against commercializing them. Herein, an effective carbon composite electrode is introduced for a low-cost perovskite solar cell with CuIn0.75Ga0.25S2 hole transport material to solve this problem. The carbon electrode is deposited by the doctor blade method using a paste composed of flakes of graphite, carbon black, and a kind of hydrophobic polymer (polystyrene or poly-methyl methacrylate). It is investigated how the... 

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an extensively used electron transporting layer (ETL) in n–i–p perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Although, TiO2 ETL experiences the high surface defect together with low electron extraction ability, which causes severe energy loss and poor stability in the PSC. In this study, a new intermediate layer consisting of gold nanoparticles functionalized with fully conjugated fullerene C60 derivative (C60-BCT@Au NPs) that enhances the interfacial contact at ETL/perovskite interface leading to a perovskite film with improved crystallinity and morphology is reported. Moreover, the studies demonstrate that the interface modification of the TiO2 ETL with C60-BCT@Au NPs... 

Interfacial engineering between the perovskite and hole transport layers has emerged as an effective way to improve perovskite solar cell (PSC) performance. A variety of organic halide salts are developed to passivate the traps and enhance the charge carrier transport. Here, the use of guanidinium iodide (GuaI) for interfacial modification of mixed-cation (Cs)x(FA)1−xPbI3 perovskite films, which results in the formation of a low-dimensional δ-FAPbI3-like phase on the 3D perovskite surface, is reported. The presence of this thin layer facilitates charge transfer at interfaces and reduces charge carrier recombination pathways as evidenced by enhanced carrier lifetimes and favorable interfacial... 

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have experienced outstanding advances in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) by employing new electron transport layers (ETLs), interface engineering, optimizing perovskite morphology, and improving charge collection efficiency. In this work, we study the role of a new ultrathin interface layer of titanium nitride (TiN) conformally deposited on a mesoporous TiO2 (mp-TiO2) scaffold using the atomic layer deposition method. Our characterization results revealed that the presence of TiN at the ETL/perovskite interface improves the charge collection as well as reduces the interface recombination. We find that the morphology (grain size) and optical properties of... 

Interface engineering has emerged as a great strategy for fabrication of high efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, we deposit a thin layer of ZnS as a buffer layer at the interface of the perovskite absorber and electron transporting layer (ETL) using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The impact of the ZnS layer on the photovoltaic characteristics of PSCs was investigated by comparison of two mesoscopic configurations, in which the ZnS layer is grown on compact TiO2 and on mesoporous TiO2 surfaces. Our results revealed that the addition of an ultrathin ZnS layer between the perovskite and ETL drastically improves the charge extraction properties and reduces... 

In this study, quick route-coating is practiced to substitute methyl ammonium (MA) cation with formamidinium (FA) at different ratios. Through optimizing the MA:FA ratio, a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.31% is achieved for holes transporting material-free MA0.8FA0.2PbI3 mixed PSCs with the JSC of 19.02 mA/cm2, VOC of 0.859 V and FF of 50.88%. Then, to improve the performance, stability and carrier transport dynamic, various additives (PVA, PVP, PEG and EC) are incorporated into the perovskite layer. The treatment of perovskites with additives has proved to cause significant changes in the surface roughness, charge accumulation, charge transport, charge transport resistance,... 

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have excellent photovoltaic properties. There are, however, challenges of materials cost and device stability to be solved before commercializing them. Utilizing low-cost inorganic hole transport materials (HTM) as a replacement for spiro-OMeTAD, and replacing the Au electrode with printable carbon could be important steps in this regard. For this purpose, CuInxGa1-xS2 (x = 1, 0.75, 0.5, 0.25, 0) nanoparticle layers are deposited as inorganic HTMs with carbon composite electrode as the back electrode. Photovoltaic properties of PSCs with CuInxGa1-xS2/Carbon hole collecting electrodes are studied by changing the In ratio in the HTM layer. Results from impedance...